From One Life to Another
by lunastars
Summary: New home, new family, new lives. Everything between Brian and Mia is more than perfect, but like usual there's more than a few hurdles along the way. *sequel to From Miami to LA - more detail at the end of chapter 1*
1. Chapter 1

_Mia shot forward, clutching at her stomach in pain. She patted the empty space beside her and groaned when she remembered Brian had gone out for the night with the others. He deserved so she didn't think twice in saying yes, but now she wished she'd told him to stay at home. She managed to roll out of bed but she had to stand still and take some deep breaths before she could move again. She walked over to the bedroom door and leaned against the door frame before she pushed through and went to the bathroom._

_She reached the toilet and threw up, some of it missing the bowl. She stumbled away from it and gripped the sink. Managing to regain some control she rinsed her mouth out before the pain came back again. Mia doubled over and wrapped her arms around herself. She started to find it hard to breath as her eyes fell on the floor._

_Was there supposed to be that much blood? Better yet, was there supposed to be any blood at all. She was pretty sure there wasn't supposed to be._

_She pulled herself from the bathroom and stumbled through to the living room. Her breathing was more rapid and the pain kept increasing. Fear spread through her body and it was only getting worse with each step she took._

_Her hand reached out and grabbed the phone. She dialed Brian's cell and waited but it rang out. She tried it again but it rang out. Instead Mia called Dom. It kept ringing and she feared that he wouldn't answer either. She managed to smile when the phone was picked up._

_"Mia?" He shouted. The music in the background too loud for him to speak normally._

_Her mouth opened but the words didn't come out. She cried out in pain and the phone fell to the floor. Dom's voice could be heard faintly, calling out her name. Mia's hands gripped her stomach as her eyes snapped shut. As her whole body became weak she collapsed onto the floor and her whole world went black._

* * *

Hello everyone! This is technically a sequel to my fic "From Miami to LA"... It would help a lot if you were to read that one first, but I am going to try to make it so that it's not a need. I can't promise anything though.

I know this chapter is incredibly short but it was intended to be. All the ones after this one will be much longer, that I can promise.

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

_**One month earlier...**_

"Brian would you hurry up!?" Mia complained as she stood outside the car.

"Yes, dear. Just give me a minute."

"Give you a minute? Oh, I'll give you a minute!"

"I'm done, I'm done."

He finally exited the car, hands raised. She was stood there with her hands on her hips, impatiently taping her foot on the ground. He gave her a smile but she rolled her eyes and headed towards the shops. He tried not to laugh as he locked the car and ran towards her.

"How are the hor-"

"Brian, I swear to God if you ask me how my hormones are again you'll regret it."

He put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek quickly. "OK, OK, I won't ask."

"Good," she sighed.

The truth was her hormones had been getting the best of her. She was near enough exactly seven moths along in her pregnancy and she was all over the place. Besides her hormones it was her cravings that got to her. She would want the most chocolatey thing for breakfast and for snacks she liked weird combinations. Like tomato ketchup on plain toast. It was only dinner that she managed to eat without complaint, as long as the portions were big then all was good. She knew that she was being unreasonable half the time but she couldn't help it. Brian had been there every step and she knew she was horrible to him most of the time.

They stepped inside the store, ready to buy all the baby stuff they didn't have. Brian walked around with the trolley while Mia threw things into it. They got blankets to go with the cot they already had and then a travel cot for if they went anywhere. To attach to either cot they got a mobile. They even bought the baby a little teddy bear before they looked at clothes. They just got some plain clothes in different sizes just to be sure, they would get more at a later date. After clothes they got everything they needed to bath the baby and to keep him all nice and healthy. Their shopping went on like this till Brian was convinced they'd bought the entire store. He didn't complain though, he happily handed over his credit card and paid for it all.

Seen as the stuff would be delivered at a later date they didn't have to worry about getting it all home. So instead they settled for having lunch. Brian chuckled as Mia got her toast but set the butter aside. He watched with amusement as she spread ketchup over it. His nose crinkled slightly when she added vinegar but he didn't complain. While she ate that he tried to concentrate on his toast with butter. She seemingly enjoyed it and he wandered if she'd still want these whacky foods even after the baby was born.

A baby that they were still convinced was a boy. They never found out for sure but they were both convinced. It had been part of the many discussions they'd had. Another big discussion had been marriage. Brian wanted to get married before the baby was born but by time anything was even planned out she was starting to really show and Mia didn't want to be huge on her wedding day. In the end they settled for getting married after the baby was born and when things had stopped being so hectic. That brought them to the decision that the baby would be Toretto-O'Conner.

After lunch the two headed back home. Brian told Mia to head inside and sit down. She wanted to help Brian but she gave in and made her way inside. He, however, stayed outside and got what they had bought from the car. As well as the baby things (that would be delivered) they also bought some food shopping, more maternity clothes for Mia and some baby proofing gear so they were prepared. It took Brian a few trips to get it all inside but he managed it. He put the baby proofing stuff and the clothes in their bedroom before he unpacked the clothes.

Once that was done he poured a cold glass of water out for Mia. He handed it to her as he sat down beside her. She gave him a small smile as she took a sip from it. After she set it down he shuffled closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and his other hand came round to gently rest on her bump.

"Two months to go," she whispered.

He nodded happily. "I know, I can't wait."

"Really?" She asked quietly.

"Of course. It's gonna so much fun."

"And tiring, and loud, and messy."

"Think of the perks, baby," he said softly. "It'll all be worth it."

"I know it will, I'm just tired."

He kissed the top of her head. "I know, but it's nearly over."

"I'm hibernating for a whole month after this baby is out," she complained.

"Hibernate for as long as you like," he whispered softly.

"Maybe we both could, the others said they'd help out."

"Talking about the others," he said, having a sudden thought. "Letty and Dom have been closer than ever. Do you think they'd ever think about kids?"

"Well out of everyone I think they'd be next to have kids," Mia shrugged. "But whether it'll be any time soon, I don't know. Although it would be nice."

"Yeah, I don't really see the others getting that serious too soon."

"Why not?" She asked seriously. "Tej and Suki just after to realise that they're pretty serious. Granted, Rome being the way he is I couldn't see it. But Leon would make a good Dad, and believe it or not so could Jesse."

"And V? Could you really see him as a Dad?"

She hit his arm lightly. "I don't see why not. He's got the over-protective thing worked out."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Brian mumbled.

She giggled and he couldn't help but feel a million times better. He gently drew patterns over the bump as she snuggled closer to him.

* * *

"You ok?" Brian asked softly as he knelt down beside the bed.

She shook her head and pouted. "My legs hurt and my stomach hurts and I hurt."

"I told you we shouldn't have done all that shopping yesterday."

"Shut up," she mumbled.

He chuckled slightly as he gently stroked her arm. "Why don't you have a bath?" She gave him a disapproving look and he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'll help you."

"Ok," she whispered.

He left her lying in bed while he went and ran the bath for her. While it was running he got out some clean clothes and two towels. Once the bath was full enough he made her get out of bed. She undressed and climbed in while he brought in a chair and sat beside the bath. She sat in the water, splashing it slightly while he washed her hair.

"I feel like such a baby."

"Don't," he assured her. "Plus, I want to help."

"I'm never getting out of this bath."

"Yes you are."

"I won't be able to stand up," she complained. "I'm huge."

"That's why I'm here to help."

She sat there without saying another word while he finished washing her hair. After that was done he went out into the kitchen to have some coffee while she relaxed for a little bit. Two cups of coffee and a couple of biscuits later he went back into the bathroom and helped out. Brian helped her to dry off and get changed before they moved to the living room.

Brian sat down on one end of the couch. Mia sat with her back against his chest and her legs spread out. He rested his hand on her stomach while hers rested on top of his. He started to quietly sing "This Little Light Of Mine" as Mia relaxed further into him.

* * *

_Hey, just so it's clear. This will now lead up to the first chapter, but it'll also continue on after that :)_

_R&R _


	3. Chapter 3

Mia sat on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table while Brian was in the kitchen making snacks for everyone. She had wanted to help out, it was her job to get everything ready for when people came over but Brian wouldn't let her. After her breakfast he made her relax. She couldn't deny that it felt good but it wasn't right, she was used to being busy. When the baby arrived things would be back to perfect.

As she was flicking through to one of the horrible day time shows the others walked through the front door. Naturally Vince, Leon and Rome (who was in LA for the next two months till the baby came) all went to the fridge and got some beer. Jesse came and sat down on the arm chair. Mia gave him a small smile which he returned as his eyes darted from her bump to her face. Letty came to sit on one side of Mia who laid her head on the older girl's shoulder. Letty flicked through the channels as Dom sat on Mia's other side.

He accepted the beer that Vince gave him as he put his arm along the back of the couch. "He not cooked yet?"

Mia pouted and placed a hand on her bump. "Leave him alone, he'll come when he's good and ready."

"You changed your tune," Brian said as he and Rome came in balancing trays with different snacks on. "She was complaining it wasn't over yet before."

"It comes and goes," she shrugged.

Dom chuckled as he set his beer down and squeezed Mia's shoulder. She leaned away from Letty to lean on Dom who happily let her. Everyone settled down and naturally the boys went straight for the food. Mia started to smile but then a sudden sharp pain went through her. She tensed up and rubbed her bump softly. Dom and Letty both looked at her and Brian darted across the room. The others turned to see what the commotion was as Brian knelt down in front of her.

"I'm fine," she whispered.

"Yeah, 'cause you really look OK," Vince mumbled.

"Screw you, V, I'm fine."

"So glad Miss Hormone isn't living with us anymore," he whispered to Leon who tried not to laugh.

"I will hit you."

"No hitting anyone," Brian said sternly. "Just relax."

"Bri, I'm fine, honestly."

"You honestly didn't look OK," Letty said.

"I am, he just kicked really hard."

"Still, aren't you supposed to be thrilled at that concept?" Dom asked.

"He always does it."

"Mia," Dom pleaded.

"I'm fine," she repeated. "Right as rain, just hungry."

Brian rolled his eyes and reached behind him for a plate of sandwiches no one had touched. In them was cheese, tomato sauce and pickle. She licked her lips and started to make her way through the pile. Not liking pickles Letty swapped seats with Brian so he could sit with her. He and Dom gave each other a worried look but said nothing. If anyone could be sure about the baby it was Mia, they couldn't really argue with her but that still didn't stop them worrying.

After an hour of no pains or any other problems they finally relaxed. All of them worried, even Vince in his own little way but they were all too afraid to really show it. Instead they all just got comfy and tried to stay as relaxed as possible.

* * *

"Hey, you," Vince said as he walked into the living room.

Everyone was outside relaxing. Mia had been too but she had come inside to lie down on the couch. Vince came to sit on the floor by Mia's head. She smiled at him and he gently stroked her head.

"You OK?"

She nodded. "But don't stop that though."

"You can tell us if something isn't right," he said softly.

"I will, but I'm fine, just exhausted."

"Yeah, so glad I'm not a chick."

She rolled her eyes. "It's just as hard dealing with one."

"I never have to worry about that."

"You'd make a great Dad," she yawned.

"Yeah, right," he laughed.

"Seriously, V," she said sternly. "You'd be awesome as a Dad."

"Yeah, well I'm in no rush," he chuckled. "I like this life for now."

She smiled softly at him. "No living like this for too long, OK?"

"Sure thing," he grinned. "Now why don't we get you to a bed?"

"No," she whispered.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I'm good here."

"Mia, out with it."

"It hurts unless I'm lying down," she admitted.

"Mia, go to the hospital and get checked out," he pleaded.

"No," she shook her head. "He just wants out already."

"Mia... If it's your bump you need to go."

"No," she argued. "We got that baby stuff a week ago and we still haven't done anything. I don't have time."

"At least sit up for a bit, see how the pain is now."

She reluctantly agreed and he got her into a sitting position. It no longer hurt and she rested her arms on her bump as she put her head back. Vince moved to sit on the couch beside her. He watched her for a while before he relaxed, feeling confident that she was OK. He took a similar position to her.

Mia opened her eyes a little and looked at Vince. She let out a small smile, Vince had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. Even when they were both really young they still were, of course he'd never admit it, it wasn't cool enough. She closed her eyes again but the smile stayed plastered on her face.

* * *

The next day everyone came back to help with the baby's room. Mia didn't know but Vince had told everyone that she was worried so they came back to help. Mia and Letty decorated the baby's room while the boys tried to put the cot together, put the wardrobe together and baby proof the rest of the place.

"They're all worried about you," Letty voiced as they put pictures up around the room.

"I know, but I mean it I'm fine."

"You know getting pains isn't good."

"Yes," Mia whispered. "But there could be loads of reasons for the pain I'm experiencing."

"Like?" Letty asked seriously. "Come on."

"Well my diet is completely different to what I would normally eat," she started. "And admittedly... I'm stressing out a little, and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Letty said as she abandoned putting some books on the shelves. "Stressing out about what?"

"What if I mess up?"

Letty gave her a small smile. "You were meant to be a Mum."

"Was I?" She asked quietly as she placed a teddy on the rocking chair.

"Yeah, you've been like a mother to everyone before you even reached double figures in age, then more so after your Dad. You were only about seventeen then."

"And look how that turned out," she sighed. "Dom went to prison, the businesses almost went completely under, we got on the wrong side of the law..."

"Mia," Letty said harshly as she gripped the younger girl's shoulders. "This will be different. They were grown men who wouldn't have listened no matter what you did."

"Yeah, you're right, I can ground this one," she chuckled.

"Exactly, and we'll all corner him when he tries to sneak out."

"Yeah, right, as soon as he's tall enough he'll be behind the wheel of a car, our boys will make sure of it."

"Well it is tradition," Letty said in an attempt to help.

Mia smiled and reached across to touch the small car you that Dom had bought which sat on the windowsill. She pushed it backwards and forewords across the windowsill, smiling as she did so.

_*flashback: 4 months pregnant.*_

_Mia and Brian sat on the couch at the Toretto household. Jesse was on the couch with them while Dom and Letty were on the armchair leaving Vince and Leon on the floor. They didn't complain, it meant they could play on the playstation. _

_"So when can we teach him how to drive?" Leon asked as he tried to overtake Vince's car._

_"When he's 40," Mia decided. "Or older."_

_"Never gonna happen so you might as well pick a younger age you're happy with."_

_"OK, fine, he can go for his permit when he's old enough and then he can do lessons, after that he'll pick if he wants to go on with those lessons or be taught by you guys."_

_"Why wouldn't he want to be taught by us?" Dom chuckled._

_"'Cause he's gonna be smart," Mia mumbled. "As long as you don't teach him anything I have no problem with you teaching him."_

_"We're offended," Vince said as he won the game. "We were only gonna teach him to race worthy enough for the streets."_

_"Vince!" Mia said as she threw a cushion at the back of his head. "That's not funny!"_

_"Yeah, teach him how to run from the cops," Leon added._

_"Don't!" Mia cried as she threw a cushion at him._

_"We need to teach him how to pick up girls," Jesse put in. "Maybe take him to that strip joint."_

_"Take him to one of those and I'll chop your balls off," Mia threatened, as she hit Brian's chest. "Shouldn't you be saying something?"_

_"Nah, you'll be the bad cop, I'll be the good cop."_

_"Brian," she groaned._

_"I'm only messing," he assured her. "I think we are the best to teach him to drive though, and as for the other stuff we can only warn him against them."_

_"I guess so, but if he's going to race I'd rather he did it professionally," she admitted. "Like Dad did."_

_"You sure?" Dom asked, shocked that his sister would want something like that._

_"Yes, strange after how it ended for Dad, I know, but before that it was all good," she shrugged. "I know he's going to race and I'd rather he did it properly."_

_"I vote we put in and get him a proper top of the range car for his eighteenth," Vince voiced._

_"Hell yeah, we can work on it ourselves!" Jesse said excitedly._

_"I'm doing the design," Letty shouted. "No arguments."_

_"OK, it's gotta be a different colour to our cars though," Leon compromised. "If it is then I won't argue with the design."_

_"But I get to do the internal design on my computer," Jesse added. "And you need to run the external design by me so we can all see what it looks like."_

_"And I'll have the parts sorted," Dom said. "So there's no limits."_

_"And there's the Miami garage," Brian reminded. "They'd help."_

_Mia shook her head as their conversation got more intense. Her little boy hadn't even been born yet and they were already picking out a car, but what else was there to expect? No doubt he'd follow the mechanic trade as well, although it would be interesting if he walked somewhat in his Dad's footsteps and became a cop. Some straight and narrow needed to return to the family and maybe her baby boy could be it._

_*End flashback*_

Mia smiled at the little toy she was pushing before she left it still. It didn't bother her what her boy did, even if it was following in the wrongs of his family, she would love him anyway. She knew she couldn't stop the inevitable so she would enjoy the sweet life for as long as she could, and doing everything in her power to protect him.

_Hey lovelies! It's been so long, and that's because unfortunately I had a major deadline but it's passed so yay more time for updates :)_


	4. Chapter 4

Mia woke up feeling a million times better the next morning, but she only wished it would last. She knew it probably wasn't a good sign that she was getting pains and it seemed like the baby wanted out sooner rather than later, but her due date was in just under two months so she wasn't about to make any unneeded problems. She had far too much to do and things had to be perfect for when her little guy arrived.

The boys and Letty had gotten back to discussing the car they wanted to buy the new arrival. They made even more plans and a couple of possible designs had been discussed. They knew that it was a little stupid to be discussing things so early, and after a while it started to bug them that they couldn't make the car they had planned out right away, so instead they settled for adding extra decorations to the baby's room.

Mia sat in the corner of the room in the rocking chair and Letty sat on the window sill while the boys moved around the room. Out of the five of them Jesse and Brian were the best at painting, they weren't the greatest but the best choice they had. They painted a race scene on one of the walls, the one that had hardly anything against it. They painted a red car and a blue car racing towards them, the red car slightly in front. The road twisted out behind them and into the sunset.

While they did that Leon, Dom and Vince did smaller things. They painted a small border around the room, making sure to avoid the wall Brian and Jesse had painted on. They used masking tape to paint a pale blue border and keep it straight. On the border they painted small cartoon cars in different colours. When they were done it didn't look perfect but it looked fun and childish, even the big master piece followed the same idea.

But Mia loved it. Everyone had helped out in doing something towards the babies room. That's how Mia knew that when push came to shove they would help out with the baby no questions asked, they would fight so not to appear too soft, especially Vince, but they would always be there if Mia, Brian or the baby needed them.

* * *

Dom went through the house after dinner with intention of saying goodbye to Mia, but she wasn't in her room lying down like she said she would be and she wasn't in the bathroom either. So Dom tried the nursery where he found her sitting on the floor with her back against the crib. She had a toy car in her hand and she was running it back and forward across her bump, making car noises as she did.

"What are you doing?" Dom asked as he sat beside her.

She shrugged and kept playing with the car. "Nothing."

"Come on, Mi," he urged. "You can tell me."

"I was just thinking about Mum and Dad," she whispered.

"And I'm guessing that car has something to do with it," he guessed.

"When did cars become such a big part of our lives?"

"Well, Dad got into cars when he was just leaving school, so at eighteen. His Dad taught him everything and a year later he started working at a garage. He got the hang of it a year later and that's when Mum started coming there to get her car serviced. A year after that he plucked up the courage to ask her out. This was also the same year he entered his first stock car race, so he invited her to watch and go out for something to eat. She loved every minute of it apparently."

"Really?" Mia asked in disbelief.

Dom nodded. "I think it was only when Dad was racing though."

"Tell me more," she said quietly.

"Well that race he got third place overall but he was pretty proud of it, a couple of years later he tried again and got first place. Another two years later he raced again and got first place, by this point he was twenty five and she was twenty three. They'd been together for a while and things were going good so he proposed."

"Oh!" Mia said excitedly. "How did he propose?"

"He took her out dancing, he'd always promise to and never did. He then took her to her favourite restaurant. After that they went for a walk and he popped the question while they were on the beach."

"Why the beach?" Mia asked curiously.

"She loved the beach."

"Ah, so that's where I get that from," she said softly. "What happened next?"

"They got married a year later and it was almost a year later that she had me."

"So that meant she was nearly thirty when she had me?"

Dom nodded. "About that, yeah. It was about two months before she turned thirty. She had me three months before she turned twenty five."

"What about racing?"

"Dad raced once more between you and me, I remember bits of it actually. He bought our garage a year before they found out about you."

"I never thought to ask about all this while they were alive," she admitted sadly. "I asked Dad about Mum but I never thought to ask about them."

"Well you can ask anytime and I'll tell you what I know."

"Thanks, Dom," she smiled.

"Talking about this has reminded me... When are you and O'Conner getting hitched?"

"Not for a while," she sighed. "The baby is due soon, then of course weddings and babies aren't cheap. So I'm not sure."

"But you are going to?"

"Sure," she smiled.

"Mia," he said sternly.

"When are you and Letty getting married?" She asked.

"Fine, I'll drop it," he said quickly. "And don't bring up marriage to Letty."

"I thought you were going to propose before now?"

"I was," he agreed. "But it was clear she wasn't ready." He froze and his eyes went wide. "She wasn't ready, right?"

Mia chuckled. "No she wasn't ready, well she never complained about you not proposing."

"Good," he sighed with relief.

"Don't worry too much about it," she smiled. "You'll know when it's time."

"You grew up way too fast," he whispered.

"No offence... But somebody had to."

"No, you're right, I didn't when I should have," he mumbled. "I messed up a lot, didn't I?"

"You all did, even Let," she shrugged. "Hell, even I did."

"When did you mess up?"

"Prom after party, me and Sean Michaelson... His Mum may or may not have walked in," she blushed.

"My baby sister ladies and gentlemen," Dom muttered. "And I thought that guy was a jerk?"

"Yeah, but he was hot and I was young," she shrugged. "Plus at least all the people I went after were single."

"Low blow, sis," he shook his head. "But I guess you're right. You're doing pretty good for yourself now though."

"We all are," she smiled. "We've changed a lot believe it or not."

Dom wrapped his arm around Mia and shuffled closer. "No, I believe it, I see it ever day."

Mia laid her head on his shoulder and let the car roll down her bump and onto her leg. She had been worrying about being a good parent because realistically she couldn't remember much about her Mum and raising a bunch of grown men wasn't the same thing. But after talking to Dom she felt a lot better, like she always did when she was with her big brother.

**_*flashback*_**

_"Dom," a four year old Mia pouted as she came into his room._

_"What's up, Mi?" A nine year old Dom asked as he played on the floor with his toys._

_"My tummy," she said sadly._

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Yes," she nodded. "I want Dad."_

_Dom got up and went over to her. "He's busy, but I can help."_

_"Ok," she whispered._

_He took hold of her hand and guided her downstairs and into the kitchen. He helped her up onto the booster seat that was used so she could reach the table properly. After she was up he moved over to make her favourite juice._

_"Thanks, Dom," she said as she took her cup from her._

_He gave her a smile as he moved to heat up one of the bowls of soup their Dad had left in the fridge. He was only out front working on his car but Dom was sure he could handle it. And he did. He heated it up in the microwave then placed it on the table. He sat at the table and because of how hot it was he helped Mia to eat it._

_"Your tummy will be OK," he told her softly. "I'll make sure of it."_

_And Mia's tummy did feel better. She ate almost the whole bowl before Dom put her back to bed with a hot water bottle. He stayed with her till she fell asleep then for a little bit longer. When she woke up again she was completely fine._

* * *

A/N: _Hey! I'm so so so sorry. I thought I updated this and on Tuesday I realised that wasn't the case. I meant to update yesterday when inspiration struck but then I watched the news and I was too upset to write. So here it is. It's not perfect but I hope you like it ^-^ and I promise not to have you waiting too long again for the next update!_

_R&R_


	5. Chapter 5

"Just two more weeks and you'll be in your eighth month," Brian reminded her.

"Then there's another month after that one," she sighed.

"It'll go quick," he assured.

"I want him out now, Bri," she complained. "It's so horrible."

"Well he's staying in," Brian told her as he put an arm around her. "Now do you need anything while I'm out?"

"I wanted to go out…"

"Well, OK, where did you want to go?"

"I wanted to do the shopping, we need some stuff."

"I'll do that," Brian smiled.

She shook her head and got up from the couch. "I'm going to go mad if I stay in this house, so please, let me do the shopping."

"OK, I need to go meet the others at the garage so I'll drop you off and you call me when you need picked up, OK?"

"How come I can't take the car?"

"Because I might need it and your car is the one that broke."

"Fine," she mumbled.

He got up and kissed her quickly before he moved away to go and get her things. When he returned he helped her put her coat on and then handed her her bag before he led her out to the car which he helped her to get into.

When Brian dropped Mia off he was a bit worried about leaving, but he did it anyway, not wanting to upset her. She waited outside the supermarket for him to drive away. Once he was out of sight she headed inside, getting a trolley as she did so.

It didn't take her too long to get the food they definitely needed, so once that was out of the way she got some treats for them to eat. At one point she ended up in clothes section and the toy section, completely distracted from her purpose of being there. Eventually she snapped herself out of it and went on to get some juice, sugar and toilet the paper, the final things she needed.

As she was reaching up to get the toilet paper she needed noise erupted around her. She managed to grab the toilet paper and put it in her basket and as she turned to look down the aisle she saw the source of the noise, running down it were four teenage boys.

She pressed her back up against the shelving to get out of the way but one of them clipped her. She felt the impact on her stomach and she automatically tried to wrap her arms around it to protect it even further. There was a slight pain and she cried out for a moment before she stilled her actions. Her breath caught until her little guy kicked and she released it again.

"I'm so sorry," a voice stuttered.

She looked up to see one of the boys who had ran pass her, but it wasn't the one who had hit her. He looked terrified nonetheless and he kept shuffling from one foot to the other.

"Are you crazy running through a shop like that?" she demanded.

"Are you OK?" he said quickly.

"It hurts a little, but yes I'm fine."

"And the baby?"

"He's kicking, so your friend better hope he's OK."

"I tried to get him to come back with me to see if you were OK, but he wouldn't, I'm so sorry, we didn't mean for it to happen."

"Well what else did you expect to happen?" Mia asked as she rubbed her bump.

"Let me take you to the hospital or something," he pleaded.

"Can you even drive?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well no, but I could get you cab or call someone for you?"

"No, I just want to get out of here."

"Here, well let me help you."

Before she could protest he took control of her trolley and wheeled it towards the check out. "I'm Adam," he informed as they walked. "I'll pay for this and give you the money for the taxi."

"How old are you?" she asked curiously.

"Seventeen."

"I can't take your money," she whispered. "And it was very kind of you to come back and check up on me."

"No, I'll pay, I save up all the time so I have loads."

She kept quiet after that. He paid for the shopping and even packed it up for her. After that he carried them outside for her and called a taxi. He waited with her and when it arrived he helped her get into it before he handed her some money to go towards paying it.

Mia thanked him and tried to give back the money but he wouldn't accept it. In the end he just stepped away so she couldn't try anymore. She gave in and just waved as she told the taxi where to go.

* * *

"I thought I told you to call me!" Brian yelled as he and Mia sat in the office.

"Yes well, this kid helped me out and he offered to pay for my taxi."

"What kid?"

"Some kid at the supermarket, Adam he said his name was. He erm… He knocked over my trolley - by accident of course - and he felt sorry so he helped me pack it up and then called a taxi for me and gave me money towards it."

"Well he wouldn't have had to pay if you called me to come and pick you up."

"I don't get what the big deal is! I'm OK, aren't I?"

"That's not the point," he mumbled as he spun the office chair around.

"Then what is?" Mia sighed. "Brian I'm fine, the baby is fine."

"I know," he nodded. "I just don't know what I'd do if anything happened."

"In the unlikely event that something does happen, I doubt there would be anything we can do."

He smiled and moved to stand in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and reached over to kiss her. Mia took a chance and ran her tongue along his bottom lip before nibbling it gently. He pulled away and gave her a warning look to which she pouted. Sex had been off the cards since they found out about the pregnancy, they'd been told it wasn't harmful to the baby but Brian wasn't about to take that chance.

At first Mia had agreed but then days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and with the pregnancy her feelings were all over the place. Even so Brian won every time and Mia just had to continue counting down the days till the baby would be here and things would change.

* * *

A/N:_ A little short, I know . There shouldn't be too many chapters till we get back to chapter one, then it'll continue on pass that to see how things pan out _

_R&R_


	6. Chapter 6

It was hard for Mia to concentrate on much else. She was almost at her last month of pregnancy but things were becoming more and more frustrating. She wanted the baby out. She couldn't sleep, couldn't relax, couldn't not go to the toilet. Things were horrible and she was sick and tired of being pregnant. It was hard for Mia to remember a time when she _wasn't_pregnant.

Brian tried his hardest to help her through it, in fact the whole team did. They attempted to make her feel better and to assure her that things were going to be so worth it at the end. Of course Mia knew this. It was the little prize at the end that helped her to hang on.

As part of the distraction Mia spent some time with the boys and Letty at the garage. Every single one of them had been completely against the idea because of how dangerous it might prove to be for Mia or the baby but in the end they gave in, not wanting to argue with a fed up, pregnant woman.

Mia stayed out of the way though. She sat tucked up in the corner with Jesse and the two of them sat making designs for the cars the others were working on. They already knew want the inside of the two cars were going to be like so it meant Mia got to have fun with the outside.

"Is it alright to come in?"

They all glanced over to the entrance to see Hector and his boys. Dom nodded and went over to greet them. "Sure it is, what can we do for you?"

"I'm heading out of town for a while," Hector shrugged. "Figured I'd pop in and check on you all in case that baby comes before I get back."

Mia smiled happily and both she and Brian went over to talk to them. "That's so thoughtful," Mia said happily.

"Yeah, man, we appreciate it," Brian nodded.

He wrapped an arm around Mia as Hector started to explain how it was some family stuff that he had to go and sort out. Brian nodded along to the information as the team came closer but Mia was staring pass Hector, her eyes having fallen on something of interest.

"Adam?" Mia asked quietly.

A young boy amongst Hector's group looked up. He had the same short mousy brown hair, he was just as skinny, just as tall and had those same blue eyes, but could it be the same boy who she met in the supermarket?"

"Oh," he breathed, eyes wide.

"You two know each other?" Hector asked.

Mia nodded and quickly said. "He knocked my trolley over in the supermarket and kindly helped me pick it up. He also helped me to get home."

"Good job," Hector nodded with approval.

"Oh, so this is him?" Brian asked.

"Erm… Yes," Adam nodded, too afraid to do much else.

"Did I even tell you my name?" Mia asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I don't think so…"

"I'm Mia," she smiled. "This is my boyfriend, Brian. That's Dom, Letty, Leon, Jesse, Rome and Vince."

"The team Hector is always talking about," Adam nodded.

"How do you know Hector?"

"I used to live near him," he shrugged. "I really want a job at Racer's Edge."

"He wants to be a mechanic," Hector explained. "So we're training him up. I would have asked you guys but with all that crap you had a while back and the pregnancy I didn't want to bother you."

"Well, we're always open to help," Dom offered. "Just give us a ring and we'll sort stuff out."

Hector thanked him and Dom invited him and the boys in. They all went to sit around and drink but Mia held Adam back so she could talk to him.

"Breathe," she told him. "Brian doesn't know what happened. He just thinks you knocked by trolley over. He knows you paid for the shopping and helped me get home."

"So, I'm not in trouble?"

Mia shook her head. "No, so relax, OK?"

Adam sighed with relief and she led him over to the others, but it was clear he was still a little on edge. She had meant what she said, he wasn't in trouble. Sure he had been an ass to run around a supermarket like he did but he didn't bump into her and he _had_helped her. But that didn't seem to matter to Adam, he was way too jumpy and everyone kept glancing at him.

An idea struck Mia when Adam's driver's licence came up in the conversation. According to Hector he could drive as good as any one of them but just hadn't had the time to legally prove he could drive. However, come next week he would be taking his test. Upon hearing this Mia suggested that he took one of them for a drive just so he could prove.

At this Vince, Leon and Jesse all decided to be driven around by Adam. Leon and Vince especially didn't believe that Adam could be that good and not have a license already. Mia smiled to herself at how happy Adam looked at the idea of proving himself.

* * *

Following that Harry at Racer's Edge agreed to give Adam a trial as long as he continued to work on his skills outside of work too. That meant that Adam was able to serve customers and assist someone when they were looking at a car.

The team always saw Adam when he was working and they had more respect for the guy after discovering that he really did have some talent behind the wheel. Every time the team went in they always asked for Adam if he was working. They did it primarily to help with his confidence about working there but also because he knew what they liked and was great at his job.

Other than seeing Adam at Racer's Edge and spending time at the garage the team were mostly at the Toretto household. .Seen as it was difficult for Mia to go out none of them really decided to go out either, it hardly seemed fair. They didn't race, they didn't party and they generally just stayed indoors.

"Sorry that I'm so boring lately," Mia sighed.

Letty eyed her bump with a smile. "You're not really in the condition to do much, we understand."

"Are you guys sure?" she sighed. "You can all still go out."

"No, we can't," Dom smiled. "It's too close to your due date, so we'd rather stay in."

"Yeah, haven't had sex in about a month, but its fine," Vince muttered sarcastically.

"If you hadn't of already messed all my friends about," Mia smiled. "I would set you up."

"Shut up, I'm not that bad."

"Yes you are," she chuckled. "You always have been."

Vince, who was sat near her, reached over and tickled her. She squirmed and he stopped almost instantly so she wouldn't hurt herself. She glared at him and he smiled innocently.

"We'll go out as a family till the baby is old enough," Letty grinned. "Then we'll get a baby sitter and take you for a night out."

"With lots of alcohol?" she asked hopefully.

"Not too much," Brian said as he wrapped an arm around her. "You're the one getting up in the middle of the night if he ever wakes up."

She hit his chest lightly and pouted. "I was going to suggest we alternate but now I'm just going to make you do it every time."

The team chuckled as Brian tried to bring it back so that they could alternate between checking on their child if he was to ever get up during the night. Brian lately had a way of making things turn out bad for him. Mia was never really angry or annoyed with him but instead just liked how she was able to twist the situation to suit her.

But as Brian talked and Mia tried not to smile the team were thinking. It had been a while since they went anywhere. In fact, three months ago was the last time the team had gone out and Mia had stayed at home, making them all feel bad. Of course they'd gone to shows and karaoke nights and such, but in the past month especially they hadn't been out properly.

"Hey," Vince piped up. "Why don't we go out?"

"We just discussed this," Leon chuckled.

"I know," Vince nodded. "But we could go to a bar. We'll drink responsibility and Mia can still come with us. It won't be crowded or too heavy in there."

"It could work," Leon nodded. "There's that new bar near the garage. It's small so it shouldn't get that busy and it's always supposed to be quiet. There's live music too whenever there's not a game on."

"Do you want to?" Brian asked Mia.

She smiled but shook her head. "No, I'm tired, _but_the garage isn't that far from here so you guys should go. I'll call you if I need you."

"I don't know," Brian said unsurely.

"Yeah, Mi, he's right," Dom nodded.

"Silly," she waved them away. "Honestly, go and have fun. It'll be nice to have the place to myself."

The team looked unsurely at each other, Vince had only suggested it so they could _all_go out, he never would have if he knew Mia wouldn't want to. However, in the end (and from a few stern looks from Mia) the team agreed it was for the best.

A couple of hours later the team were ready to go and Mia was laid down on the couch watching TV. They made sure her cell was charged (and so were theirs) before they left her and headed out to the bar.

* * *

A/N: _hey guys, so, the next chapter (possibly the one after that as well) will be an extended version of chapter one.  
Also, I know updates aren't as common as they were when I first started the story. I honestly haven't had enough time to update quick. I know that sounds bad/unbelievable when I've posted Supernatural stories, but I've been posting those quickly because they're one-shots which means I can just write them and post fairly quickly, whereas with these types of stories (multiple chapters) I have to write them more carefully. I can't just throw out any old chapter because if I do it could ruin the whole story, so I really have to think about what I'm doing which means it takes me a little while to write the next chapter.  
I'm sorry for any problems and worries that may cause, and I hope to not have you waiting too long. I have a small plan sorted out so fingers crossed the waiting time between chapters will be shorter._

_R&R_


	7. Chapter 7

The team had left her around nine o'clock and Mia had managed to keep her eyes open for another hour. Before heading up to bed she went to the kitchen and made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As she ate it she quietly sipped on a glass of fresh orange juice.

Feeling more revived she still decided it was best to head on up to bed. As she walked she couldn't ignore the pains in her stomach. She left it alone, deciding it was probably the baby getting restless and the result of eating when she probably didn't even need to.

In an attempt to get herself as relaxed as possible she went for a quick shower. The heat from it made her sleepy again and she absent-mindedly moisturised her face and brushed her teeth.

She walked back to her room in her towel and changed into her pyjamas before climbing into bed. Mia sighed with relief as she relaxed and pulled the covers up to wrap around her. It was the latest she had gone to bed in a long while and no doubt she would wake up in a few hours when the team managed to stumble home.

* * *

Two hours later Mia shot forward but it wasn't because of loud bumps and slurred swear words. No, it was the pain in her stomach. She clutched at it and reached out to pat the empty space beside her. She groaned when she remembered Brian had gone out for the night with the others. Knowing she had to do something, Mia managed to roll out of bed but she had to stand still and take some deep breaths before she could move again. She walked over to the bedroom door and leaned against the door frame before she pushed through and went to the bathroom.

She reached the toilet and threw up, some of it missing the bowl. She stumbled away from it and gripped the sink. Managing to regain some control she rinsed her mouth out before the pain came back again. Mia doubled over and wrapped her arms around herself. She started to find it hard to breathe as her eyes fell on the floor.

Was there supposed to be that much blood? Better yet, was there supposed to be any blood at all? She was pretty sure there wasn't supposed to be.

She pulled herself from the bathroom and stumbled through to the living room. Her breathing was more rapid and the pain kept increasing. Fear spread through her body and it was only getting worse with each step she took.

Her hand reached out and grabbed the phone. She dialled Brian's cell and waited but it rang out. She tried it again but it rang out. Instead Mia called Dom. It kept ringing and she feared that he wouldn't answer either. She managed to smile when the phone was picked up.

"Mia?" He shouted. The music in the background was too loud for him to speak normally.

Her mouth opened but the words didn't come out. She cried out in pain and the phone fell to the floor. Dom's voice could be heard faintly, calling out her name. Mia's hands gripped her stomach as her eyes snapped shut. As her whole body became weak she collapsed onto the floor and her whole world went black.

But Dom's world didn't go black. He kept shouting down the phone and Vince, who was the closet to him, could see that something was clearly wrong. As Dom bolted for the door of the bar Vince rounded up the others.

Ignoring the fact that they had been drinking and were out of their mind with worry the team raced back to the fort. It was reckless and stupid but they all had Mia on their brains and being cautious wasn't the answer right now.

When they got back to the fort they all burst through. Leon and Jesse went wide eyed at Mia lying on the floor and they seemed to know to stay back. Vince searched the rest of the house while Brian, Letty and Dom went closer to Mia.

"She's alive, just unconscious," Dom informed.

"She probably passed out," Letty suggested.

"Her waters broke," Vince told them. "The bed is a little wet but the bathroom floor is covered."

"V, there's that tone again," Dom said while he gently shook Mia. "What else?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. "Just a bit of blood."

"How much is a bit?" Brian yelled.

"A few drops probably."

"Probably?" Brian demanded.

"The blood has obviously spread and with her waters all over the floor it looks like there's a lot but there probably wasn't that much."

"Her clothes don't look that bad," Letty whispered.

"Then why is she like this?" Brian asked angrily while Dom told Leon to call an ambulance.

"She probably passed out from the pain," Letty said quietly.

"She'll be fine," Dom said, suddenly finding his feet. "She called not long ago so it's obviously just happened. The ambulance is on their way and she's still alive. She has the best chance."

"And the baby?" Brian whispered.

Nobody answered and when Brian lifted his head to look at Dom he couldn't read it, but from the rare worried look on Dom's face Brian could tell that even he wasn't sure of the fate of the little boy.

* * *

A/N: _Sorry it's a little short, it was only supposed to be a slight extended version of the first chapter with small changes dotted through. But good news, I have a rough plan so I know what I'm going to write for the rest of it ^-^ Expect Mia/Brian drama, family moments, Miami (with a side helping of Tej and Suki), love, celebrations, special occasions and small family dramas._

R&R


	8. Chapter 8

Mia woke up and her face scrunched up slightly. Her hands rested on her stomach and her eyes grew wide as she realised there was no more bump. Instead there was just her regular stomach with a slight inflation. She bolted forward and suddenly she was surrounded by the others and being reassured. But Mia couldn't hear their words, her baby was no longer inside of her and she didn't know where he was.

"What happened?" she managed to choke out.

"What do you remember?" Brian asked softly.

"Waking up, there was a lot of pain and I called you guys," she mumbled. "I think I passed out."

"You did," he nodded. "You were brought here and they had to perform an emergency C-section."

"Where is he?" she asked as she tried to get off of the bed.

Dom moved forward and gently pushed her back onto the bed. "He's fine."

"Brian?" she asked, looking for reassurance.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You'd think he'd been in there the whole nine months, seems he didn't need that last month."

"So he's good?" she sighed with relief.

"Absolutely perfect."

She nodded and relaxed back against the pillows. As she did Jesse came into the room followed by a doctor. He came over to her.

"Hey, you've been out for a while," he smiled. "I'm Dr Jacobs."

"Hey," she whispered. "What happened? Why was there blood?"

"According to your friends there wasn't that much," he smiled. "It happens. It means we have a small window to work with but it does happen."

"So it's normal?"

"A little bit of blood can be, but your situation is a little unusual," he explained. "However you're doing good and so is the baby."

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "You know what? I don't care. As long as he's OK I don't want to question what happened to me. I just want to see my baby."

"You just woke up," he smiled. "Give it a few hours and I'll allow it."

"Is there anything I need to do?"

"There's some medication for your pain, some things you need to be careful with of your stitches and in terms of the baby just bring him in for the regular checks."

"So just routine stuff?"

He nodded before quietly leaving the room and the team to be alone. They all swarmed Mia again and each of them told her something different about the baby. Brian showed her a picture that he had taken on his phone. She expected it to pain her but seeing a picture of her baby was better than nothing at all.

* * *

The team all smiled as Mia reached in and lifted the baby out. The pain from the stitches was etched across her face but she was determined to hold onto the little guy. She sat down on the bed, him still cradled in her arms and spoke softly.

"Mia," Brian whispered as he sat beside her. "The staffs know him as Toretto-O'Conner and we keep calling him "baby boy" so I think he might need a name."

"You can chose," she smiled.

"Well, I couldn't think of one I liked so they all sort of came up with some ideas, maybe you could choose one of them?"

She gave a small smile and glanced around at them. "What ideas did you come up with?"

"I voted for Charlie," Leon voiced.

"I agreed," Jesse added. "Just so long as you don't call him Charles and use Charlie as a nickname."

"I wanted Tommy," Vince voiced.

Jacob was mine," Rome laughed.

"Daniel was mine," Dom nodded.

"Let?" Mia asked quietly.

"Jamie," she smiled.

"That was going to be your name," Mia shook her head.

Dom choked on the water he was drinking. "Excuse me?"

"We were like fourteen," Letty muttered.

"I roped her into some girl talk and we got to talking about kids and baby names," Mia explained. "Letty said the only name that ever struck her was Jamie, she couldn't think of a girl's name."

"What names did you think of?" Brian asked.

"Ava for a girl," she smiled. "But I couldn't ever think of a name for a boy."

"Well, what do you think of Jamie?"

She smiled and looked down at her little boy. "I can't."

"I want you to have Jamie," Letty nodded.

"OK, well Ava is all yours if you beat me to it."

Letty chuckled softly. "Deal."

Mia smiled and cradled the little boy closer. Brian kissed the top of her head and the name was sorted. Jamie Toretto-O'Conner.

* * *

Mia and the baby were both released not too long later at the same time. The others had been making sure everything was perfect for when they got home but none of them were prepared for how frantic and over protective Mia became. She would constantly be looking behind her in the car to check the baby was alright and she'd never leave his side, it was like she couldn't, like she was afraid something bad would happen to him.

They moved the Moses basket into the living room and gently laid him into it. Mia sat on the end of the couch nearest to him and would every so often glance over. The others tried to ignore it and pass it off as normal but they all knew deep down that it was far from that.

Throughout the day they took turns in checking on Jamie to ensure that Brian and Mia got some rest and didn't over work themselves, especially Mia. As Mia became more relaxed she seemed to calm down more and the others were sure that they had just overreacted. That was until they put Jamie to bed.

He was asleep for no more than fifteen minutes before Mia went back into the room to check on him again. She couldn't be away from him for much longer than that at a time. The worry within the team rose again, maybe they weren't so crazy. Mia was worrying way too much and in an attempt to help her they called in some help.

Two days later they had visitors. Tej and Suki were unexpected only to Mia. They acted like they came of their own accord, which they would have done anyway but only two weeks or so later. On the same day they came Hector stopped by just before they arrived and Adam stayed.

"Girl, you look good considering," Suki commented as she sat down beside Mia.

They were all outside and Jamie was covered up in his pram. Mia smiled in its direction. "Yeah, I get that comment a lot lately."

"Everyone wants to cheer you up."

"Yeah," Tej agreed as he sat on her other side. "What's this I hear about you?"

"You mean the me who is jumpy and always scared for Jamie?"

"Yeah that one," Suki nodded.

"He's safe, girl," Tej said softly. "Nothing is gonna happen to Jamie, not with a big family like this around."

"We've been trying to show her that," Vince said as he sat with them.

"Well maybe you suck at it," Suki teased. Rome let out a laugh and she turned on him. "It ain't like you could do any better."

"But we are being serious," Tej smiled. "He's fine."

"And if you're afraid you'll do something wrong you don't need to worry," Suki assured. "Every first time Mum is like that."

"I already did something wrong!" Mia blurted out. "When I was shopping."

"While you were shopping?" Brian asked, clearly confused.

"When I was shopping someone bumped into me, into my bump, into Jamie. I didn't say anything and I didn't even go to get it checked out." Suddenly she remembered that the last time she went shopping on her own Alex had been there. "They knocked my trolley too so when Adam appeared to help me I told him that I was fine, that it was just my trolley. I acted like it was no big deal, but after passing out and the emergency C-section I don't want to make the same mistake of passing off what happened because everything feels "fine"."

"You what?" Brian asked.

Mia gulped at the angry look on his face and she seemed to sink further into her seat.

* * *

_R&R  
_


	9. Chapter 9

Brian stalked further towards Mia but suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes for a moment before turning back and going over to the pram. Quietly and gently he reached in and lifted out Jamie. As he cradled the baby Mia got up and walked closer.

"Don't," Brian whispered. "I'm taking him inside, he's been out in the sun for too long and he might sleep better as well."

Mia went to step forward again but stopped herself. She wanted more than anything to run after them and make sure Jamie was OK, that he was happy and sleeping well, but she stopped herself. It wasn't that she didn't trust Brian, she did, she trusted every single one of them but anything could happen to Jamie.

She shook the thought from her mind. He was fine, and he would continue to stay that way. The revelation of what had happened made her think, maybe she was the worst thing for Jamie. No one else put him in danger then kept it a secret. Could she really be upset at Brian for being angry at her?

Dom moved closer and wrapped an arm around Mia's shoulders. He guided her inside, everyone else still keeping quiet. Dom made her sit down at the table while he got her a glass of water.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Why didn't you say something?"

She shrugged. "He kicked and I felt fine."

"Well, it doesn't look like it did any damage so you were right," he smiled.

"Do you think that makes it any better?" Mia sighed. "What if he had gotten hurt?"

"Brian's probably thinking the same thing," Dom whispered. "So give him some time."

"Why do we keep messing up?"

"What do you mean?"

"This family," she whispered. "We always seem to mess up. I was hoping that was all over."

"It is," he nodded.

They both looked up as someone approached the kitchen. Mia sighed with some relief when she realised it was Brian. He motioned for her to follow and she did. He led her into one of the bedrooms and shut the door.

Mia sat awkwardly on the bed while Brian paced backwards and forwards. She wanted to snap at him, to make him talk but decided against it. He seemed a little on edge already and she wasn't about to make it worse.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered. "Was it because I was angry about you coming home in a taxi?"

"No," she shook her head. "He kicked so I knew he was OK."

"There was no bleeding?" he asked. "Nothing to suggest that he wasn't?"

"No, I would have said something or went straight to the hospital if that was the case."

"You still should have said something, at least to me," Brian mumbled as he ran a hand over his face.

"But Jamie is fine," she whispered. "Our baby is OK."

"And what if he wasn't?" he asked. "Sure we'd still love him, but that small bump could have been the reason behind it. Yes, he wasn't hurt but he could have been."

"I wouldn't let that happen."

"I know," he sighed as he sat beside her. "But you lied to me. And I know I lied to you in the past, but this-"

"Is different," she cut in. "I get that."

"I don't want to get angry with you," he mumbled. "Especially not with Jamie around."

"So then what?"

"We take a break."

"We what?" she choked.

"That came out wrong," he sighed. "It's just I can't stop thinking about what could have happened. I just think we should be apart as much as possible, just for a few days."

"Because you don't trust me."

"I trust you with Jamie, that's all that matters," he smiled. "But you did lie to me and I just need to take a step back."

She nodded. "Jamie is the nursery anyway, there's the spare bed in there still. We'll take turns each night sleeping in there. And I was thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we go out for a date in a couple of days?" she suggested. "Just us two, the others can take care of Jamie. We were kind of thrown into this, we hadn't even been back together that long. So maybe it could help."

"I'd like that," he smiled. He shuffled closer and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Mi."

"I love you too," she nodded.

* * *

A/N: _Short, yes, but I'm writing the next one now so it should be up today._

_R&R_


	10. Chapter 10

Mia and Brian kept to the idea of taking turns in sleeping in Jamie's room. It actually helped some. It meant that every other night Brian got a full nights sleep, and the nights between those Mia got her full sleep. It helped them both feel a little better.

Considering how much more awake and better they felt it didn't stop the two of them from arguing. Just the smallest things would get to them, and because they didn't spend every waking minute together the two of them would want to get angry at the other and demand where they'd been, but then they'd realise that they shouldn't and that made them even angrier. It seemed that it wasn't each other that made them angry but the frustration of not knowing when they could step in and when they couldn't.

The team began to get worried. They knew the plans for the date night but they wondered if it would happen. Even the team noticed that they weren't really made with each other but with the situation. Why they couldn't just work things out now no one understood.

Their date ended up being a week later. They had argued the day before so everyone wandered if it would work out. Sure they got on well when they were with Jamie but that wasn't all the time, and it certainly wasn't now.

"You ready?" Brian asked as he knocked on the bedroom door. "The others are all pulling together to look after Jamie. You'd think he was a dangerous criminal instead of a new born baby."

"Well you know what they're like," Mia said from the other side of the door. "Well, most of them."

"At least Jamie will never be alone," Brian shrugged. "Probably won't even kno-"

But he was cut off as Mia walked out. He ran his hand through his hair as he stepped back slightly. He blinked a few times as his eyes ran up and down her. She was wearing a black dress. It was tight around her breasts and down to her waist before it spread out down to her knees. A ribbon was tied round the middle and her head pinned up in a bun.

"Nothing else was comfortable," she whispered.

"How come?" he mumbled, still watching her.

"Too tight around the middle…"

"Oh, yeah…" he trailed off, finally looking her in the eye. "You look good though."

"You sharpen up good too."

He looked down at himself. He hadn't gone as far as Mia. He wore a dark pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a smart jacket to go over the top. The only other smart thing was how well his hair was brushed and his shoes.

Mia handed him her purse and he put it into his pocket. Brian then held his arm out and she wrapped hers around it. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek before he guided her towards the living room. The others said goodbye to them as they kissed Jamie goodbye.

* * *

"I think we made a mistake…" Mia said. Brian looked at her wide eyed and she chuckled. "We're going to want to do this all the time."

He smiled as he took another bite of his slice of cake. "Well maybe we should."

"Could we?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure the others will be more than happy to look after Jamie. We could make it a weekly thing, or if you're uncomfortable we could make it a monthly thing."

"Why don't we see how they coped with Jamie?" Mia laughed. "Then if it went well, we'll make it weekly for as long as we can."

"I'm sorry," Brian smiled. "We shouldn't have even needed to do this."

"Oh, no, we needed this," Mia smiled. "And I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have lied to you."

"We haven't really spoken much lately," Brian started. "How have you been?"

She shrugged slightly. "Good, you?"

"Why don't I believe you?"

"I've been a little emotional lately that's all," she smiled. "Mood swings is all."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"They're mood swings, Bri," she said softly. "It seemed like a stupid thing to discuss considering the situation."

"But that's all they were, normal mood swings?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Just annoying as hell, what about you?"

He glanced at her and took another bite of cake. "Nothing."

"Bull," she chuckled. "Now spill the beans."

"All the work I've done around the house and the couple of hours I've spent at the garage each day have gotten to me," he sighed. "I thought Jamie was the reason why I'd been so stressed lately, but he just makes me feel calmer, crying and all."

"With my mood swings and you being stressed... No wonder we argued as much," she confessed. "The guys wouldn't mind if you didn't go to the garage for a while. And our place is as good as it's going to get so you don't need to worry about that."

"Do you think that's all this is?," he smiled. "I might just have to do that, but let's not tell them tonight."

She nodded. "Do you think otherwise?"

"No, I just didn't have a clue why I argued with you so much," he admitted.

"It's Sunday tomorrow anyway, Dom's trying to get back into the routine of keeping the garage closed on a Sunday. It's doing good enough to allow it now," she smiled. "That should help some."

"How did closing on Sunday start?" he asked curiously.

"It was church day," she smiled. "And we always had our weekly barbecue."

"We should get Jamie christened," Brian decided.

She looked up from her cake. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Religion wasn't really my thing growing up but it was yours so yeah, I think that we should."

She gave a smile. "Now, before or after the wedding?" He chuckled and she froze. "I mean, if you still want to get married."

"I do," he whispered. "But maybe we should wait a little bit."

She looked back down at her cake. "Yeah."

He scooted his chair round the table so he was closer to Mia. He took both her hands in his and rested them on his lap. She had no choice but to look up at him. He squeezed her hands tightly.

"I couldn't imagine meeting anyone as kind and caring as you," he told her. "And even though I said we should take a step back, that we shouldn't crowd each other… That doesn't mean that I don't want to marry you still. I said I will and I will. But I meant what I said when we rushed into this."

"If it's because you don't trust me then you should say," she whispered.

"I'm crazy not to trust you," he sighed. "I really am. But I think… I think we didn't have time to be able to rely on each other before Jamie. You couldn't trust me when I came back, it took you so long to allow yourself to want me back. Then once we were back together and things were looking up we got Jamie."

"And we didn't have long to get used to the idea of us again," she nodded.

"We rushed, and that's not our fault, but I want to take things as slowly as we can from now."

"So we delay the wedding," she smiled.

"And we work on getting to know each other better," he said as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "And we'll get better at this whole thing, maybe even get stronger for Jamie"

"OK," she nodded. "I'll agree to this… If I get to pick what we do on the next date."

"Deal," he chuckled as he leaned back in his chair.

* * *

The next time they went out it was the next day. It wasn't classed as their date night but it had been Mia's choice and Brian said they should do it sooner rather than later. It was Sunday and the garage was closed so if they didn't go out they would be stuck in the house all day.

Mia had packed up some things and they went to the local park. They found an area to lay down a blanket and their basket. They took out the baby mat and laid it on the blanket, then Jamie on top of that. It meant he could be out of his pram and not wriggle around too much.

He laid their curled up as Brian watched him and Mia laid out the food and drink. Brian picked it at it and Mia gave him a disapproving look every time he did. By time she had taken out everything nearly half of it was gone because of Brian.

Due to this she took first dibs and made sure to get the best of everything. He frowned and took the bits he was stuck with, but the small smile as he ate couldn't be missed. The two of them sat there, eating and every so often glancing up at each other.

Once the food was eaten and the juice drank the two of them laid either side of Jamie.

"I'm sorry I was so angry at you," Brian said suddenly.

She smiled up at the sky. "I would have been angry too."

"I trust you, Mi," he smiled.

"But not as much as you want to?" she guessed.

He nodded sadly. "Sorry, I don't mean to…"

"How much do you trust me?"

"Enough to want you still, enough to want you around Jamie," he smiled.

"Then it's enough," she decided. "It just means I have to drag you out on dates more so I can build on that."

"Drag me anywhere you like," he smiled.

* * *

A/N:_ I was going to drag out the whole Mia/Brian falling out thing for a few chapters but I can't bring myself to do it :( so don't fret, they'll be fine, just a little hiccup in their life :)_

_R&R_


	11. Chapter 11

_Two months later..._

After their date things didn't just magically get back to how they used to be. With the late nights both Mia and Brian were very irritable which made their patience thin, especially with each other. Apart from that though they got better and better. They talked more to each other, even about the little things. Every Saturday was their date night and every Sunday was family time.

The dates did them good. It meant they had nothing to worry about except each other. By the end of the first month they had worked through any trust issues that might have arose after Brian revealed he was a cop and pushed pass them. During the second month they worked through the trust issues after Mia's secret and any other little problems that were brought up in arguments.

Both of them were closer than ever now. The fact that they had pushed through the bigger problems so fast was a miracle and the fact that they were able to work at the smaller ones whenever they arose made it even better.

"So how much do I have to fork out?" Brian asked as he came in from the kitchen.

"I haven't decided yet," Mia said as she flicked through a bridal magazine.

"I'm paying for some of it," Dom piped up.

"Excuse me?" Brian asked.

Mia closed the magazine. "Seriously? Is that why you invited us round?"

He nodded. "That not why, but seriously. You know Dad would have put money in for the wedding but he can't, so I'm gonna. Plus you're my little sister."

"You don't have to," Brian told him.

"But I want to," Dom smiled.

"And the rest of us are putting away for you honeymoon," Letty grinned.

"Whoa," Mia breathed. "You what?"

"Yeah," Leon laughed. "We've put in the money we got from the races, and then anymore money we get."

"We just need to know where you guys wanna go," Vince smiled.

"You guys really don't have to," Mia whispered.

"Tough, we want to," Jesse said in a baby voice.

They all looked at him. He lifted Jamie up in the air, and made cooing noises before lowering him and repeating the same thing. Each time Jamie would laugh and reach out to try and touch Jesse.

"Hey, Jess," Brian called. "Fancy baby sitting sometime?"

Jess went wide eyes and pale at the idea. "No, I'll pass."

Vince and Leon both started to laugh. Jesse was perfectly fine with Jamie when they were in a group but the idea of being alone with him always freaked Jesse out.

"So, how much for the wedding?" Dom grinned.

"It doesn't matter," Mia said. "It's almost Christmas so I'm not even going to think about the wedding properly just yet."

"Good," Dom laughed. "Because we've already blown a lot of money on Jamie."

"Oh no, you guys," Mia groaned.

"What did you get him?" Brian asked uneasily.

"Toys," Leon shrugged.

"Clothes," Letty added.

"Stuff for his room," Jesse shrugged.

"Oh yeah, and more toys," Vince grinned.

"He's only two months old, what kind of toys did you even get him?" Mia asked.

"Some suitable for his ages, y'know those development ones," Vince explained.

"And the others?" Brian asked curiously.

"We may have gotten carried away," Letty sighed. "But at least he'll have toys for when he's older."

"Yeah," Mia muttered. "I was enjoying have lots of space at our place."

* * *

"Hey, what's the ma-"

Mia stormed through and headed upstairs to the rooms. She didn't stop until she was inside Dom and Letty's bedroom.

"So, what's the matter?" Letty chuckled as she walked into the room.

"Sorry," Mia mumbled. "I didn't mean to storm by you."

"You looked like a woman on a mission," she chuckled as she sat down on the bed. "What's up?"

"He's a jerk."

"Let me guess, Brian?"

"Yes, Brian," Mia mumbled.

"What did he do this time?"

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"No, no," Letty shook her head. "Tell me."

"He had Jamie in the car and decided to drive fast," Mia sighed. "But I know Jamie would be fine."

"How long was he driving for?"

"They went shopping, but he only gathered speed on our street," Mia sighed. "I could see him from the front window, it was really exciting. Then I remembered Jamie was in the car and I freaked out."

"Brian wouldn't have hurt Jamie."

"Yeah but the car could have or the object it could have hit."

"I know," Letty smiled. "But we know cars better than anyone. Hell I bet Jamie loved it."

"He was fast asleep," Mia mumbled.

"What did you say to Brian?"

"I shouted about how immature he was being and how dangerous it could have been."

"Why don't you talk to him?" Letty suggested. "You could tell him how you feel."

Mia nodded and pulled her phone out. Letty watched as she dialled Brian's number and held the phone to her ear, waiting.

"Hey," Brian said softly from the other end. "Mi I wanted to-"

"Let me," Mia pleaded.

"OK..."

"I'm sorry I yelled, OK?" Mia started. "You just scared me that's all."

"I know, I know," he sighed. "I would have been the same if it was you. But Jamie looked so relaxed and he was dropping off to sleep so I tried picking up the speed and he seemed to relax more, and fell asleep quicker."

"I know," she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I know," he said, smile clear in his voice. "I promise not to do it again with Jamie in the car."

"Maybe when he's a little older," Mia shrugged. "Dad took me and Dom out all the time, but in a controlled environment please, not the streets."

"Sure," Brian chuckled. "I'll wait till he can see above the dashboard and I'll make sure it's somewhere safe."

"How is he?"

"Still asleep, where are you?"

"My hou- Dom's house. I came to talk to Letty."

"You can say your house if you wanna," Brian sighed.

"But it's not anymore," Mia shook her head. "It's just habit."

"Why don't you stay there for a bit?" Brian suggested. "Or the whole night even."

"Are you sure?" Mia smiled.

"Yeah, you haven't been out for a while."

"I love you," she said excitedly. "Call me if you need me, OK?"

"I will," he laughed. "I love you too."

She hung up the phone and looked excitedly at Letty. The older girl eyed her suspiciously.

"Dom still keep the cabinet stocked with alcohol?" Mia grinned.

"Hell yeah he does!"

Mia laughed as Letty jumped off the bed and ran from the room. She kicked her shoes off and shuffled back. She sat with her back against the headboard, her legs crossed and a pillow on her lap.

Mia looked around. It had been years since she had spent a long time in Dom's room. When they were kids she would spend all her time here but as soon as Dom hit fifteen and became more serious about girls she decided against it. She was only ten at the time but she wasn't stupid. She understood what guys and girls got up to.

Letty came into the room with a basket of drinks and glasses and placed it on the bed.

"Glad that you decided not to breast feed?" Letty smirked.

"Definitely," Mia said happily as she grabbed a Corona and opened it.

"I'll ease you in," Letty laughed. "It's been ages since you drank."

"Yeah, and you have to ease your way in too," Mia warned. "I'm not sitting here while you get drunk."

"Deal," Letty laughed.

They made their way trough the Coronas first. Letty had brought up a pack and between them they finished it pretty quick. Letty kept put the basket on the floor and handed Mia glass after glass, not telling her what was in it.

"I should know what you're giving me," Mia pouted.

"You'll say no to half of it if I do," Letty laughed.

"Do you think Dom will get angry about his alcohol going missing like last time?"

"We were fifteen last time," Letty chuckled. "We're all grown up now."

They continued to drink for the next hour or so and soon Mia stopped caring about what she was being handed. They remembered all the times they had snuck drink up to Mia's room and gotten drunk. Normally they never got caught because when Dom checked on them they were asleep and he would stay near the door. However that one time when they were fifteen Dom walked into a room littered with empty bottles and two girls sprawled out on the bed laughing at nothing. The next day he yelled so much they wished they were dead. They discussed more old moments like that, and by time the second hour rolled in they were growing tired and decided to switch to shots. That was when Dom walked in.

"This a private party or can anyone join in?" he asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"Private!" They both yelled.

Dom chuckled as he went over I the bed. Letty fell backwards and stretched her arms out. Dom kissed her lips.

"You're drunk," he commented.

"Get this genius a drink!"

"No, I'm good," he smiled before looking at Mia. "Shouldn't you be at home."

"Brian offered to stay in with Jamie," she shrugged, clearing not as lost as Letty.

"He'll probably rope Rome into helping," Dom smiled. "He just went to yours."

"Rome's here?" Letty asked.

"No, he's at Brian and Mia's place."

"So not Miami?"

Dom shook his head. "Baby he hasn't been back in Miami for ages."

"Yuh huh!" She exclaimed. "He went back recently."

"No, Tej and Suki went back, three weeks ago."

"No, Rome!"

"Yeah, OK," he laughed. "You girls stay in here tonight and don't drink too much."

As he moved away Letty sat up. In honour of what he just said they went for some more shots. He shook his head and closed the door to the girl's giggling.

* * *

A/N: _Not sure about this one... But next chapter is Christmas, and one other member of the team will find love ^-^_

_R&R_


	12. Chapter 12

A week until Christmas, and only a couple of days since Mia and Letty decided to get drunk. The boys were sure to make as much noise the morning after as they possible could. This resulted in foul mouthed replies and attacks from the girls in response. When the hangovers passed the boys resulted to teasing the girls about events they couldn't remember from that night.

On one particular day while unpacking decorations to set up Vince decided to take his shot at teasing the girls. Mia and Brian had already decorated their house and set the tree up ready for Christmas. It seemed like the Toretto house wouldn't be decorated until the last possible minute so Mia, Brian and Jamie had come round to ensure that it did get done.

Once all the stuff was down from the loft and they were getting into sorting it out Vince took his chance. He brought up the fact that not only had they been witness to some of the things that Letty and Mia got up to but they also had footage of it as well.

Naturally Mia didn't respond positively. "Vincent, tell me where the damn camera is!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied, trying to rattle her up some more.

"I will beat it out of you if I have to," she growled.

"Come on, I'm not afraid of you." He grinned, earning him an infuriated groan from Mia.

Letty narrowed her eyes at him. "Be afraid of me then."

"Bring it," Vince invited.

Suddenly Letty was off her place on the floor and running at Vince. He got up just in time to fight back as she launched herself at him. Mia tried to get involved to give Letty a slightly better edge but the cries of Jamie stopped her. She glanced over at Brian who was covered in decorations, with a sigh she climbed away up the stairs.

* * *

The next night came and there was still some slight tension after the fight. Vince had gotten out with a busted lip and a black eye while Letty got away with just aches and pains. Both she and Mia were anything but happy with Vince. All the anger they had felt towards the others and slipped away to make room for their growing anger towards Vince.

That night they all sat around the living room, everyone except Leon who had stayed out. A little earlier on Rome, Vince, Leon and Jesse had ventured out to one of the local places. When they had come home they were missing Leon who apparently was still at the bar they had ended up at. The fact that a girl had kept him there wasn't too surprising to the others until it they discovered it was because they were talking and not all over each other.

"Leon, is that you?" Dom called out as the front door opened and closed.

There was no response but eventually Leon rounded the corner and came into the living room where they were all waiting. Each of them glanced up. Their eyes ran down Leon's arm and stopped at his hand, the hand that was holding onto another one.

Sensing their curiosity Leon stepped further in, pulling his guest with him. He stepped aside to reveal a girl. She wasn't that tall, her head only just reached Leon's chest. She was also thin, making her look quite petite. She looked down when they first saw her, her dark brown hair fell over her face. When she did finally look up they all noticed the bright green of her eyes and slowly her other features came into focus. Not one of them could deny that she's good looking.

"This is Lacey," Leon introduced, sounding almost nervous.

"Well go on through," Vince chuckled as he moved his feet out of the way to clear a path along the floor.

Instead of taking the now opened path down to the basement Leon pulled Lacey over to the free arm chair where he took a place and pulled her down to sit on his lap. The entirety of the team were all of a sudden no longer interested in the movie they had been watching.

* * *

"Oh sorry," Lacey said quickly as she stepped into the kitchen. "I didn't think anyone would be up."

"I'm usually the only person who is." Mia smiled and shifted Jamie slightly in her arms. "Plus this little guy was hungry."

"He's beautiful." Mia glanced her way causing Lacey to fidget uncomfortably. "What?"

"You're different." She gave a slight shrug as she grabbed the now ready bottle. "Most of the girls the guys bring home leave as soon as possible, and none of them would even notice a baby, and when they did they would turn their heads away in disgust."

"The prospect of having children scares the hell out of those women," Lacey chuckled. "They'd much rather go through anything else."

"Sounds like you want some of your own."

She nodded happily. "I can't wait. I'm going to make the most of not being a parent before I really settle into the idea though."

"How does a girl like you even know Leon?"

"We met a while back, we haven't seen each other for a long time." Mia nodded, it made much more sense now. "Do you all live here?"

Mia shook her head. "Rome is from Miami, he's only visiting. Brian and I have our own place but we decided to just stay here over Christmas. It's not far from here but it saves travelling each day."

Lacey nodded, taking the information in. "Leon did explain who you all were but he never mentioned that part."

Suddenly the house came to alive. Once Jamie was fed Mia set him into his Moses basket in the living room before she poured her and Lacey some coffee. As the others spilled into the living room Mia settled into making some breakfast. She kept it simple: toast, hot drinks and waffles.

"I want some back story," Vince suddenly said, looking between Leon and Lacey.

"As much as I hate him right now, some back story would be good," Letty agreed.

"Remember I went away after Brian left?"

The whole team nodded but Brian spoke. "You went away."

"Yeah, after you told us that you were a cop and left I decided to get away," Leon explained. "I went away for two months, on the last few days I met Lacey. We hung out and made the most of our time together before we went our separate ways."

"I completely forgot he was from LA, it had been so long." A small smile appeared on Lacey's face as she spoke. "So it wasn't on purpose that I ended up here, but when I saw him in the bar I couldn't help but go over and talk to him."

"It was like no time had passed," Leon grinned.

"So… You did her, left her and then got her back?" Vince said, putting all the information into his own words.

Leon grabbed a piece of toast and threw it at his head. "Shut up, man."

"Do you have to be so disgusting?" Mia asked with a roll of her eyes.

"You know me," he grinned happily as he buttered the slice of toast that Leon had thrown at him.

The rest of breakfast was spent mostly in silence. Eventually Lacey relaxed a little and joined in more with the conversations that were brought up. She even happily agreed to go to the garage with the boys and Letty. Even Vince seemed impressed when she said she knew a little bit about cars.

When they did go Mia and Brian stayed at the house with Jamie. All of the decorations were up except for a couple which they set up seen as they had the place to themselves. Finally having the house empty and someone to look after Jamie, Mia slipped upstairs to relax in a bath.

"Hey, little guy," Brian mumbled as he gently picked Jamie out of the basket. "Just us for a little while."

He laid along the couch and rested Jamie along his chest. The little boy had his stomach against his Dad's chest and stomach, with his cheek squished into him too. Brian kept a hand gently on his back so he couldn't roll off. Jamie lifted one of his arms and rested it on his exposed cheek while the other dangled to the side.

As they both relaxed Brian quietly started to sing "This Little Light Of Mine". Thoughts flooded back. Thoughts of when Mia was still pregnant, of when Jamie was still wrapped safely inside of her. He tensed a little at the idea that Jamie needed more protection than ever now. However, all fear disappeared when Jamie started to gurgle happy. Brian let out a low sigh before he continued on with his song.

* * *

Christmas eventually arrived. Lacey had stuck around and the team had become used to her. Seen as it looked like she would be spending Christmas with them they invited her out for a meal on Christmas Eve as a sort of rehearsal. It went better than any of them expected (even her and Leon) and there were no arguments amongst them about her spending Christmas with them.

After breakfast they went their separate ways for a short while before opening presents. Vince, Rome and Jesse went out just for the sake of going out. It meant that they weren't stuck in the house doing family things all day, they could have a break. Dom and Letty went out just so they could have some time together. Lacey and Leon went to visit some friends of hers that lived just out of town so she could exchange presents. Brian, Mia and Jamie stayed in the house not wanting to take Jamie out into the cold.

They all came back at different times. Frustration set in with Vince and Rome who wanted to get through presents and eat. Letty and Mia both rolled their eyes at the boys' impatient stomachs. When Leon and Lacey finally returned Vince and Rome were up and getting the presents before anyone could blink.

Mia groaned, but couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face, when she saw that Jamie's pile was the biggest. She tried to keep her eyes off of them as they opened everyone else's first. There were clothes, gadgets, CDs, car parts, art equipment, books, jewellery, beauty products, calendars and other small bits and bobs. Each of them took a little bit of time to play with or sort out what they got out before the boys helped bring over Jamie's presents.

There were various things inside, mostly fun things. There was an electrical car that he could sit in and drive around. It had a handle on the back so it could be pushed too. Mia rolled her eyes, he could hardly sit up on his own let alone drive a toy car around. To go with it there were smaller one that could be pushed around. It lit up and made lots of noise, something Brian was amused by but Mia groaned at. The car theme was quite a dominant one throughout the toys, but there was the odd educational one and ones that resembled some sort of animal. Apart from the destructive and loud toys there were also clothes.

"Yeah," Mia sighed as the car zoomed around the floor, flashing its lights. "Thanks."

* * *

**A long, but somewhat ****important**** author note.**

_First of all… I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! A million times over I'm sorry. I don't really want to make excuses about why I haven't updated but I feel like I need to explain. I had an exam today and I've been revising like mad recently. I was able to update my other story because I had the chapters pre-written so all I had to do was check them and post it, which only takes a couple of minutes at the most, but unfortunately by time the stress had set in (and the need to revise) I hadn't pre-written the chapters for this so I couldn't update (as it takes me too long to write them) __BUT NO MORE EXAM. And I'm working on doing basic drafts for the upcoming chapters so hopefully there shouldn't be too long between updates._

_Also I haven't been ignoring your reviews and messages, I appreciate them all!_

_**Hawaii5-0Addict **__hey, I'm not entirely sure if I want his background to be too harsh, however, you did get me thinking about how in Fast Five Brian reveals to Dom that his Dad wasn't around much so there will be a similar conversation in this story (maybe flashbacks), it'll go into a lot more detail and it might also dwell into his relationship with his Mum (which I believed to be good, or better than the one he had with his Dad).  
__**McGarrett-Williams **__hi, unfortunately my messages are playing up so I'm having to reply here. I like your idea for the bachelor party I might have something like that, while also dwelling into the hen party that the girls are having. Although, I can't promise anything.  
__**scoop-gti **__I got your link to that youtube video! I loved it so much, it was honestly so perfect, thank you ever so much for sending the link my way! _

_R&R_


	13. Chapter 13

After Brian's little realisation that his son was a lot more defenceless than he ever thought he made a vow, a vow that he would spend as much time with his son as possible. During Christmas and the few days that followed he changed his vow, he would spend as much time with his little _family_as he possibly could. He could admit that he and Mia hadn't healed completely after they "broke".

So on the few days they had between Christmas and New Years Brian spoiled them. He took them for walks, to the beach, to the park, to winter fun fairs and more. He even cooked dinner most nights and the nights he didn't he made breakfast. He got up for most of the feeds to give Mia a break, and on one day he asked Dom and Letty to babysit Jamie while he took Mia out for some spa treatments and a shopping spree.

He wasn't trying to buy a perfect family or anything like that, but even he could admit that he and Mia hadn't had much time for each other lately. He just wanted to show her that he loved her and still wanted her more than ever, that he wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world except for with the two of them.

And it worked. He and Mia seemed to fall in love even more than they already were. She told him some of the stories from her childhood, and he did the same, although Mia couldn't help but realise that he was being guarded, safe with what he was saying.

"Hey, they all finally came up with an idea for New Years," Mia said as she came into their bedroom. After Christmas they had gone back home, giving the others some space.

"Took them long enough, it's tomorrow after all," he chuckled. "What's the plan?"

"A few drinks at home," she smiled. "Dom said we could come of course, it'll only be us so Jamie will be fine there too."

"You gonna drink?" Brian asked.

She shook her head. "I wasn't planning on it, so if you want to you can."

"No, don't want you trying to get revenge from the night you got drunk," he grinned.

She groaned. "I almost forgot about that, what did you guys record?"

"Entertainment," he chuckled.

"I hate you all," she complained.

Brian reached out and took hold of her hands. He pulled her down to him before rolling over so he was on top. He gently kissed her lips.

"I still hate you," she mumbled against them.

He gave a small smile before trailing kisses down her neck, gently skimming her side with his hand as his lips travelled. She shivered slightly, and as he softly nipped and sucked on that one spot on her neck she gave in.

"Fine, I hate them, not you."

* * *

It really was just a few drinks with the family. Of course Lacey was invited to, but no one complained when Leon took family to mean her, none of them had a problem with her and she was fitting in just perfectly.

"I've sorted the entertainment tonight," Vince smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Letty snapped, before glancing over at a wide eyed Mia.

"You'll have to wait and see," he grinned happily.

"I'm not going to hold either of them back if they decide to kick your ass," Dom warned.

"Hell, I'm getting popcorn if they decide to!" Leon laughed.

"I can take a couple of girls," he grumbled.

"Yeah, sure you can," Leon laughed, louder than before.

"How's your eye?" Letty asked, trying not to smile.

"And your lip?" Mia added.

"Lucky shot."

"_Shots_," Jesse corrected.

Vince narrowed his eyes at him and he quickly glanced away too afraid. Brian rolled his eyes at the immaturity, the girls really would kill them all, but mostly Vince seen as it was his idea to record it. Not wanting to get in the way of what could potentially explode he darted into the kitchen to get another cola.

While he was gone the others settled down and Vince decided against the idea of showing the footage, making up the excuse he had lost it when in fact he didn't fancy getting beat by a couple of girls, _again_. No one believed his story of misplacing it but they let it lie, the boys had already seen it and Letty and Mia were more than happy not to see it with everyone else.

The two girls slipped away into the kitchen to fill their glasses and to get away from the boys _attempting_to sing along with the music. They turned quickly when they heard noises, but it was only Lacey trying to get through so she could come into the kitchen.

"It's dangerous in there," she gasped.

"Hey," Mia chuckled. "Brian's still in there and he's sober."

"Doesn't stop him from singing along though," Letty said with a roll of her eyes.

"Can I get you a drink?" Mia asked Lacey, ignoring Letty's comment.

"I think I'm just gonna have water, I was going to drink but with how bad they've gotten I don't think I want to anyway."

As Mia poured the glass and handed it to her, Lacey passed her a DVD. "What's this?"

"Whatever it was Vince recorded," she shrugged. "I think so anyway, he was dancing around and it fell out of his back pocket."

"Told you it was in there," Letty smirked. "No one has an ass cheek that flat."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you, I said there was no way to prove it."

"Yes there was," Letty argued. "Just pull it out of his pocket, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you felt him up a little."

"Yes, but my _sober _boyfriend would."

"Were you and Vince…?" Lacey asked curiously.

"I've never gotten a straight answer for this one," Letty whispered to her.

Mia rolled her eyes. "Doesn't matter what it was, it was a long time ago and I'd never go there now."

"Well, he's still taken with you," Lacey pointed out.

Mia went to make a comment but as she opened her mouth Jamie's cries came over the baby monitor. She grabbed the monitor quickly and pushed through the living room to head upstairs to check on him. Letty and Lacey followed close behind. Letty wanted to watch the DVD upstairs and Lacey just wanted to get away from the boys for as long as possible.

While Mia cradled Jamie Letty set to work on setting up the DVD. She had only had one Corona but you wouldn't think that was the case with the way she was struggling to do it. Eventually Lacey moved over to help her as Mia lowered a now sleeping Jamie back into his travel crib.

"Ready?" Letty asked, sounding slightly nervous as she sat on the bed with them.

"No," Mia admitted. "But it's probably not even that bad, Vince always did have a horrible sense of humour."

Letty nodded in agreement before pushing the button to start the footage. It didn't seem too bad at first. Vince was messing about with the video camera, they guessed it was a new one with the way he was shaking it, trying to work out all of the features. All of the boys were on there too except for Brian, Jamie and Rome who were at home. They must have watched the tape later on before Vince hid it.

"I don't think this is it," Lacey apologised.

But she was wrong. Suddenly the camera swung round to the stairs. Letty and Mia came stumbling down, a bottle in their hands and using each other for balance. They were talking in gibberish to each other and Vince chuckled as he kept the camera trained on them.

"OK, this isn't as bad as I thought," Letty shrugged. "We can't stand which I guessed anyway, and at least no one can understand what we're saying."

"I don't think even we could understand," Mia admitted.

"Well it could be worse-"

But Letty was stopped mid-sentence as on the footage they stopped walking and looked around. They tilted their heads to the side as if listening to the music that was playing. Suddenly 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton came on.

"Are you fucking serious, Jess?" Leon could be heard saying.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "It's the most recent played tracks, Mia was on here recently, she must have listened to it."

There was a pause in conversation before Vince turned around, the camera now pointing at Jess who was leaning across to reach his laptop which was playing the music. Vince suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

"Leave it on," he told him.

Jesse did as he was told. Leon could be seen giving him a questioning look as Dom in the background rolled his eyes, knowing this would end badly.

Suddenly the camera turned back to the girls. They had stumbled towards the middle of the room and were finishing off the bottles they had. When they were empty they threw them at to the opposite side of the rooms.

"I love this song," Mia hiccupped.

"Vince," Dom's voice could be heard, warning him.

"Don't worry, it'll be good."

"Dolly Parton?" Letty slurred.

Mia nodded, probably a little too eagerly than need be. "Dance with me!"

As the two of them danced on screen it didn't seem so bad. They could hardly stay upright and they were all over the place, but they'd drank almost half of Dom's liquor cabinet by now, maybe more so it would be a miracle if they had managed to dance perfectly.

The three girls sat on the bed watching couldn't understand what was so bad. Sure it was a little embarrassing to be dancing around like a couple of five year olds and to be shouting things out every so often, like how much they love the song, but it wasn't that bad. They really needed to get Vince seen to if he thought this was entertainment.

But then the girls suddenly started singing. 9 to 5 was just pass half way by this point, it seemed the girls were singing as loud as they possibly could to make up for the part of the song they had missed. Letty and Mia both gulped as they watched the footage of themselves, Lacey was trying her hardest not to laugh, they were really going for it.

Suddenly the girls, who were still singing, climbed up onto the small coffee table that sat at the side. They held onto each other and swayed backwards and forwards, and then side to side, never stopping their singing.

As Jamie started to cry again Letty muted it but kept watching as they continued to dance, never faltering.

"You're singing must have woken him," Letty shrugged. "Shows how bad you are at it."

"Me?" Mia yelped as she picked him up. "All I could hear was you."

"I have the voice of an angel."

Mia's eyebrows raised. "Were we watching the same footage?"

"I thought you were both really good," Lacey commented, trying not to laugh.

Letty narrowed her eyes as she stopped the recording. "Do you think there's anything else on here?"

"I don't want to know if there is," Mia said quickly. "All I know is that I'm never drinking again."

When they took the DVD out Mia hid it in Jamie's bag. They felt it was safer to have it with Mia than in the Toretto house with the boys. When the girls had gotten Jamie back to sleep and went downstairs the boys were drinking (except Brian) and playing on the playstation.

The girls stayed in the kitchen, trying to talk about anything that would distract them from what they had watched. It was the fear that something more embarrassing could be on there. Neither of them wanted to see though. The boys would soon grow bored, or so they hoped.

Then a thought struck Mia. "Do you think that's the only copy?"

"There couldn't be more than one, could there?" Letty hissed.

"Hey! Where is it?"

They both looked towards the living room as Vince's voice hit them. He had obviously realised that the DVD was no longer in his back pocket. Everyone was silent, there was no more music and the game sounded like it had been paused. There were noises as Vince searched the living room.

The three girls got up and wandered into the living room. Lacey went over to Leon who was scratching his head in confusion. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he wrapped his around her. Vince searched for a little bit before he looked up at Letty and Mia.

"Do you have it?" he asked, clearly frustrated.

"Have what?" Mia asked.

"Nothing," he said quickly.

"Oh, you mean that DVD," Letty said.

His eyes narrowed. "Where is it?"

"We're on it so it belongs to us," Mia grinned.

"I filmed it," he argued.

"Yeah, I ought to kick your ass for that," Letty growled. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I said it would end badly," Dom shrugged.

"Yeah, we heard," Letty snapped. "You guys do worst shit and we never bring it up."

"That's actually a lie," Jesse piped up.

"Excuse me?" Letty demanded, softening slightly.

"Sometimes when Vince tries to get laid you purposely put girls off," he reminded. "The last time you told her that he likes to dance in his boxers to Spice Girls when he's drunk, he sings out of tune when he's in the shower and he snores so much that the neighbours thought there was a low flying plane the first time they heard it."

"You did what?" Vince yelled.

Letty shrugged. "You drank the last Corona."

"And you both like to embarrass Dom and bring things up constantly," Jesse shrugged. "But that one makes sense. You're his girlfriend and you're his sister."

The girls silently agreed and a small truce seemed to be made. Over the years they'd embarrassed each other and done things they shouldn't have. However, the girls still weren't in the best of moods with the guys (minus Brian and Rome). Vince was the one they had the most problem with, after a while they admitted that the video was quite funny and they even laughed about it, but did Vince have to tape it? The others they were angry at because they didn't say anything or help them to get hold of the footage. However, Dom had no issue with getting Letty to forgive him.

"What are you doing?" Mia giggled as Brian wrapped his arms around her and started to kiss her neck.

"What's it look like?"

She rolled her eyes. "OK, then why are you doing it?"

"Do I need a reason?" he mumbled against her skin.

"She might not, but I might need one," Dom grumbled.

Brian moved his lips away but wrapped his arms tighter around her. "This is why I'm glad we have our own place. We have a child together and he still gets all big brotherly when I kiss you."

Mia chuckled softly. "It's nearly midnight."

"I had noticed."

She grabbed his hand and led him outside. They sat on the front lawn together, completely alone. Brian wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. As the clock crept closer to midnight he slowly kissed up and down her neck. She leaned her head back, eyes closing softly until the fireworks exploded around them.

Her eyes flew open and she eagerly watched the sky. Brian kissed her neck one last time before he looked up to watch them with her. He never let his grip on her go and eventually his eyes drifted from the fireworks to her.

* * *

A/N: _I'm starting to not like this story… :( I'm not sure why but I'm trying to not let that get in the way and just power through haha. I know for a fact this story won't be too long. OK I say that… There will be about seven more chapters, which will bring the total to nineteen, almost the same as the prequel. It wasn't even supposed to be that long, so there will be drama coming up but nothing too big that will take ages to sort through, I'm sorry._

_Dramas MIGHT involve (but may not be limit to):  
The wedding, Dotty, people from the team's past, people specifically from Brian's past, etc._

_R&R_


	14. Chapter 14

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas was out of the way the team settled into a work routine again. Mia took up her work again at the diner as it meant Jamie could be there with her. That meant everyone could work and they didn't have to pay for someone to look after him, not that they would trust many people with that job. Lacey offered to help out at the diner too as well to make it easier. While they were there the boys and Letty kept on going at the garage, which was doing surprisingly well, better than any of them could have ever imagined.

They were a man down as Rome decided to go back to Miami a couple of days after New Years. It had shocked the team at first. He had been with them for so long that they half expected him to just stay. They honestly wouldn't have minded, they were used to a busy house. That house had never not been busy.

"Do you think Leon and I are moving too fast?" Lacey asked as she jumped up to sit on the counter.

"Why'd you ask?"

"Well those few days we had together when I first met him was great," she sighed happily. "But now we're together, and not for long either yet I'm constantly staying with him and..."

"And what?"

"Well I don't know if it's just because he doesn't want me staying alone in a hotel or motel room," she mumbled. "What'll happen if I get my own place?"

"Wait, are you asking me if you should ask Leon to move in with you?"

Lacey shrugged slightly, blush glazing her cheeks. "Do you think he'd say yes?"

"Well he obviously doesn't mind staying in the same place as you..."

"But there's loads of us, would he feel the same if it was just the two of us?"

"I think he'd feel better about it to be honest," Mia smiled. "Granted he's been in that house with all of us for so long but with your own place he can have you all to himself."

"That would be nice," she said happily. "It's hard to just be on our own with everyone around, but I did come here at a busy time of year."

"Have you found a place yet?"

"No, I'm still looking, everywhere is either too small or out of my price range."

"Well then don't worry about it just yet, see how things go with Leon."

"And just keep looking for a place?"

"Yeah," Mia nodded. "And when you think you have a few suitable places lined up you either make the suggestion to Leon or you just move in on your own. He'd probably come over to yours all the time."

"Yeah, you're right," Lacey laughed. "I'm worrying about all of this for no reason."

"You'll be fine," Mia smiled. "Plus, Leon really likes being with you."

Lacey gave a small smile but the way she looked down told Mia that she had said something wrong. But just as she was about to say something to comfort her Letty came into the diner. The way she walked and the stern look on her face told Mia that something had happened.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked as Letty sat down at the counter.

"Your brother is just a dick."

"When is he not?" Mia chuckled.

"That's true," she sighed.

"You gonna tell me what he's done this time?"

"No, not yet, he doesn't even really understand what he's done yet."

"He can't apologise if he doesn't know what he's done," Mia sighed.

"I know that," Letty mumbled. "But if I tell him then it'll just end up in a bigger argument."

"You two didn't shout at each other at the garage did you?"

"Might of done," she mumbled.

"Those poor boys are going to be in silence, too afraid to say anything."

"Are you serious?" Lacey asked.

"Yeah," Mia nodded. "They know not to get noticed when Dom is in a mood, which he more than likely is now."

"I didn't mean for that," she argued.

"I know," Mia nodded. "But we better go and fix it, bring them some lunch as well."

The girls made some lunch for them all before cleaning up the place and making sure everything was off. Once it was they put Jamie into Mia's car, locked up and then headed off to the garage. The whole way Jamie looked happily out of the window meaning that Mia could be left alone with her thoughts.

She wondered about how things had changed. Suddenly she was a Mum and at some point she would be a wife. She was no longer Dominic Toretto's little sister, the girl who was going to go off and be a nurse and make something of her life. No, she already had a life. She was her own person and that thought scared her slightly. She had molded this perfect and beautiful life without even thinking about it.

When they arrived she tried to shake her thoughts as they went inside. Mia took Jamie straight to the office where it would be quiet and clean. Dom was sat at the desk, hunched over the desk. He didn't even bother to look up. She shot Letty a look as she came out. Letty rolled her eyes before grabbing two of the lunches and heading into the office to talk to Dom. Lacey took another two lunches and took them over to Leon while Mia dished out the others, before staying with Brian.

"Do you have any idea what happened between them?" she asked him.

"No idea," he shrugged. "She went into the office and I figured they were talking but all of a sudden they just started shouting. She was talking about how it doesn't matter anymore, that he wouldn't understand. He didn't seem too pleased about that."

"No," Mia sighed. "He hates not knowing something, especially when people were about to tell him and then suddenly they change their mind."

"I noticed."

"Excuse me?"

The team glanced over at the small voice. A women was stood in the doorway, she didn't look much older than Mia and Jesse who were the youngest of the team. She was small like the both of them but her thin waist made her look even more petite. She had shoulder length brown hair with shiny brown eyes to match. She gave a small nervous smile as she stepped further in. The male members of the team ran their eyes up and down her until Leon and Brian noticed their other half's stern looks.

"Can we help you?"

The others were shocked to see that it was Jesse who spoke. In no way was he not good with women but he wasn't as forward as the others. It would always take him some time to build up the courage or drink enough alcohol to have the guts to talk to him.

"I was erm... Driving along and my car sort of stopped working," she said nervously. "I have no idea what's wrong with it, and I was wondering if you could help me out?"

"Where abouts is the car?"

"Just down the road, took me about five minutes to walk up here."

By this point Dom and Letty had both come out of the office, obviously having heard the conversation. "Do you want to go pick her car up?"

"Yeah," Jesse decided.

"We'll move the cars while you two go and get the car."

He gave a slight nod and directed her over to the tow-truck, talking to her along the way. While they were leaving the boys and Letty moved the car they had been working on further back so they could get the new car in. Mia made a quick check on Jamie while Lacey stood to the side wondering if she should attempt to help them move or not.

Once the move was done Jesse came back towing the car. Mia smiled to herself when Jesse opened the door and helped her down. They continued to talk and she was even laughing at some of the things he said. A genuine laugh.

"This is Rachel by the way," he explained to the team.

They all nodded in her direction and Jesse gave a quick introduction as to each person was as they did.

"How does the car look?" Dom asked.

"Oh," Jesse breathed as he ran a hand through his hair. "A lot, man, from what I could see."

"Well we'll take a look and then let you know what the problems are for sure," Dom told Rachel. "We'll give you a price as well then you can decide if you want us to go ahead with it."

"Just do the fixes if you can."

"That could be really expensive," Brian warned. "Especially if there's a lot of work like Jesse said."

"Look, I'll be able to pay you," she assured. "But I'm starting my new job soon and it might involve some travelling so I need this car."

"If push come to shoves we could always do payment installments," Leon shrugged.

Dom thought about it for a moment, he was never one to do such a thing but Rachel seemed desperate and she didn't seem like the kind not to pay up. "Yeah, we could work something out if the price is a little higher than you were expecting."

"Thank you," she sighed with relief.

While Dom, Leon and Brian took a look at her car, Letty and Vince worked on the other car. Jesse kept talking to Rachel, she was constantly laughing and he would blush slightly at the sound.

* * *

"What are you grinning about?" Vince asked Jesse angrily, clearly still pissed at the fact that Jesse beat him to a girl. "She left hours ago, you can quit it now."

"She gave me her number," Jesse grinned as he moved over to his car.

Vince rolled his eyes but everyone else seem pretty cheerful at his news. Dom looked genuinely impressed but kept his mouth shut, much like Brian and Leon. It was Letty, Mia and Lacey who spoke.

"Are you going to call her?" Mia asked.

"I was thinking about it."

"You don't have a choice," Letty noted. "Mia was just being polite by asking. Translated it means: You're going to call her."

"What do I say?" he asked nervously.

"Make a suggestion for a date, give her a time and place," Mia told him as she put Jamie into the car.

"But make sure she knows that you'll pick her up," Lacey added. "And don't forget to pay, or split the bill."

"But, don't you suggest that, let her," Letty explained. "Always think to pay the whole bill unless she offers to split."

"And if she offers to pay for the whole thing?"

"Easy," Brian laughed. "You offer to split the bill as a compromise."

"But insist for a while that you'll pay, if she doesn't give then do that," Leon smiled.

"Right," he nodded. "When should I call?"

"Never," Vince muttered.

Letty hit the back of his head. "Give it until tomorrow, that'll give you time to sort out a place and that as well."

Brian gave Mia a small smile as they got into the car. She returned it as he set the car up. For a while she had been worrying. It had been the reason why she hadn't moved too far away from the Toretto house. She was worried about what the team would do, she had always looked after them, been the mother figure and she knew if she left she would worry about them. But the team seemed to be changing too. Leon was settling into a serious relationship, Jesse seemed a little bit better in himself, despite their argument Letty and Dom seemed good, and Vince... Well Vince would always be Vince.

* * *

_R&R_


	15. Chapter 15

"Has your family ever been small?" Brian asked.

"What?" Mia asked, glancing up from Jamie.

"Well, the three of us leave and then Rome," he explained, "But they go and gain Lacey, and if things go well there'll be Rachel as well. The team's just as big again."

She laughed a little at that, letting Jamie grasp one of her fingers in his hand. "Yeah, well, no. For a while it was just me, Dom and Dad but Letty and her Mum were just up the road, then Vince and his Mum up the other side, there was always the church people and the boys at the garage."

"So a big family," Brian smiled.

"I think it's just what we know," she shrugged.

"We're a small family," he pointed out. "I mean, as an immediate family, away from the team."

"Dom's my brother though, that makes him immediate."

"I guess," he shrugged. "And even if you include Letty in that, it's still a lot smaller than what you're normally used to."

"Sure," she agreed. "But we could always make our little family bigger."

"When he can hold himself up better or can walk then we'll start _thinking _about it."

"Good," she grinned. "Because I was never going to settle for just one."

He leaned over from his place on the arm chair and she leaned up from her place at the end of the couch to meet him halfway. As they're lips met Jamie could be heard gurgling from his little Moses basket that sat on the ground by Mia's feet.

"If you wanna be all over each other then find somewhere more private," Vince growled as he sat on the other end of the couch. "And Christ, don't do it in front of your son, scar the child for life."

"You're getting soft in your old age," Brian commented as he sat back.

"Fuck off, O'Conner."

"No swearing," Mia pouted.

Vince glanced down at the Moses basket. "Not like he can understand properly."

"Well if his first word is a swear word then I'm blaming you," she warned.

"You'll blame me for teaching the kid something decent? I'm down with that."

"Nothing decent about swearing," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. "I've heard some foul things come out of your mouth."

She glanced at him but he just kept a big grin on his face. She moved her eyes to Brian who shook his head. "Don't look at me to back you up, I don't doubt what he's said for a moment."

"After all these years, and I still get picked on the most," she groaned.

"Letty fights back, Leon and Dom don't count, O'Conner ain't been around long enough and Jesse just tunes us out," Vince explained. "You're bark is worse than you're bite."

"Want to test that theory?" she challenged.

But just as he went to respond Jesse walked through the door, alone. Mia's stomach dropped. She couldn't see his face. Was he OK? Had the date gone OK? He quietly moved to the free arm chair and sat down. Mia and Brian both looked his way but Vince kept looking at the TV. Eventually Leon and Lacey wandered out of the basement and Letty and Dom came downstairs. All of them stopped as they entered the living room when they saw Jesse sat in the armchair.

He looked up, smile on his face which quickly dropped. "What?"

"You just walked in, head down and didn't say anything," Mia rambled. "I thought that…"

"Oh, I was on my phone," he shrugged, holding it up. "I didn't even realise you guys looked up at me."

Mia glanced at his phone. She hadn't even noticed it there. "What were you doing on it?"

"Texting," he shrugged.

Lacey ran over to him and sat on the arm of the chair. She glanced down. "What's she saying?"

"That she's going elsewhere to get lucky?" Vince guessed.

"She's not like that," Jesse defended.

"What is she like?" Leon asked, slightly amused.

"Nice," he shrugged. "Different to us which makes her a different sort of interesting."

"And?" Letty asked, prompting him to go on.

"She seems to care, she's funny, she thinks _I'm _funny." Leon gave him a knowing look and when he glanced at Dom he got the same look. "Fine, and she's pretty, sorry for focusing on what's on the inside."

"Christ, don't sound too excited," Vince muttered.

"Fine," Jess groaned. "She's hot. Like melt in your mouth sort of hot."

"Well it seems she thinks the same thing," Lacey comment, sneakily look at his phone over his shoulder.

He quickly hid it and blushed. "Quit looking."

Vince suddenly looked a lot more interested. "Let me see your phone, Jess."

"Fuck off, no," he said sternly, pocketing it instantly.

"Leave him alone," Mia warned.

"Yeah, let the kid be happy," Letty laughed as she dragged a grinning Dom into the kitchen.

* * *

After the teasing had stopped Jesse had spilled most of what happened on the date. They had gone for some drinks so they could talk a little with ease and get more comfortable with each other before they went out for a meal. He had insisted on paying for everything but they had settled for splitting the bill. After they had walked around for a long time, just talking away before they realised how late it was getting and he took her home before returning himself.

Hearing about how great the date had gone (enhanced by the fact they were going out again for a second date) had prompted Brian to plan a date of his own for him and Mia. Instead of their usual date nights of the cinema, dinner, walks on the beach and such he tried to change things up a bit.

"Are you sure they're OK with having Jamie?" Mia asked. They were sat in a little café at the beach front.

"Yes," he nodded. "When would Dom and Letty ever turn down the opportunity to spend some time with him?"

She shrugged. "But it seemed a little all of a sudden, and I'm just worried I guess."

"Me too, but we need to trust someone with him and aren't they the best?"

"I guess," she smiled. "No one better probably."

"Exactly," he grinned. "How was the food?"

"Like any other sandwich," she laughed. "It's the cake and hot drink I'm looking forward to."

"Well pick," he smiled. "Anything you want."

She studied the menu before picking a small sponge cupcake with pink frosting on top. Brian opted for the same but only with yellow frosting on his instead. With it they ordered a mug each of hot chocolate.

They sat there at their little table, glancing out of the window every so often. It was nice and quiet and relaxing. The only thing Mia could think of to make it better is if it wasn't in LA. She thought Paris maybe, just somewhere different. But with a baby and a lots of plans heading their way they couldn't just jet off randomly.

"I was thinking," Brian said suddenly, pulling Mia from her thoughts. "Before Jesse came home, in fact before Vince interrupted you said you're family seemed big 'cause of the people you saw all the time."

"Yeah," she nodded. "What about it?"

"You were big on church right?"

"Not when I was really young," she shook her head. "Dad and Mum insisted we go and then Dad kept insisting even after she died. When he died I hardly went, in fact I haven't been for ages but I still pray and still think about it all. Why?"

"Well I was thinking we could get Jamie christened," he suggested.

"Where did that come from?"

"We don't have to," he said quickly. "But with saying grace before every meal and all the stories about church and that I figured why not?"

"Of course I want to!" she said excitedly. "I just didn't think you would want that though."

"Well he's both our kid so we both get a choice here," he shrugged. "Honestly I'm not bothered either way, I'd be happy whether he is christened or not. It's why I want it to be your choice."

She smiled happily. "Before or after the wedding?"

"Before," he decided.

"Small or big?"

"Just the team," he decided. "Maybe on Sunday before the family barbecue?"

"Sounds perfect," she breathed.

* * *

They had planned the Christening out as soon as everyone was together. When they contacted the local church it was insisted that the service be bigger, involving some of the people who would be attending church that day but Brian and Mia insisted that they didn't want to drag it out.

So when they arrived a few things were said, the usual and even a couple of hymns were sung. But the team said nothing, only when they were asked to. They had struggled for a while to figure out who to ask as god parents but eventually they decided. Naturally Dom was a choice and then of course Letty. Brian knew the only person he was adamant about having (no room for argument) was Rome. He was so happy about that choice that he came back from Miami specially for the occasion. Originally they were going to go for another godmother but there was only really Suki, Brian loved her but they wanted people they both knew like the back of their hands, and unfortunately Mia hadn't got quite that close with Suki just yet. So instead they decided on Vince, a decision which still seemed to shake him.

After the service was over they spent a little time thanking Farther James before the next mass. When the church slowly started to fill they made their way out, it was still early but almost as soon as they got home they got ready for the barbecue.

"I have some news," Lacey said when time for actually cooking the food came. They were all outside with the side dishes done and the meat just waiting to be started. "I wasn't going to say it now because it's Jamie's big day but I need to say before it gets too late."

"Before what gets too late?" Leon asked, clearly concerned and completely unaware of what was going on.

"I'm… I… I found an apartment I can afford," she announced. "And I took it. I've already put down a deposit and I was hoping to move in tomorrow or the day after at the latest. But I needed to let you all know before I could even think of moving in."

"But you have a place here," Leon frowned. "Everything you brought with you is in my room."

"He's right," Dom nodded. "If we didn't make it clear that you could stay then I'm sorry."

"No you did," she smiled.

"Yeah, another girl around the place again is nice," Letty smiled. "Especially one who knows a lot about cars."

"I'll still be around, I'm just going to be living somewhere else."

"But," Leon frowned. "Why?"

Lacey bit her lip as she glanced at Mia. "Go on," Mia urged.

"Go on what?" Leon asked, frowning even more.

"Well," Lacey said nervously. "I was sort of thinking… Maybe you could move in with me."

Leon tried to respond, but kept stuttering every time. "I'll move in with you if he says no," Vince offered with a slight wink.

"Hell no," Leon ground out hitting the back of his head.

"So, is that a yes?" she asked, seeming more nervous than before.

"Are you sure?" he asked, reaching out to hold her hand.

"Boys," Letty and Mia said at the same time, with a roll of their eyes.

"Dude, why would she ask?" Vince laughed.

"Yeah, girls think everything through," Dom nodded and Brian seemed to agree.

"I want her to be sure," he ground out before turning soft again. "So are you sure?"

"I've been thinking of how to ask you for a while," she admitted. "While I was looking for a place I kept wondering how to ask you so yes, I'm sure."

"Good," he grinned. "Because did you really expect me to say no?"

She threw herself at him, knocking them both off their seats and onto the ground. He grunted slightly at the impact but still wrapped his arms around her in response. Vince just rolled his eyes at the situation but even he couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

A/N: _Two chapters in one night, aren't you guys lucky? Nah, it's to make up for all the gaps between updates, the long and uneven gaps so yeah two updates. I'm not too found of this chapter but the next one is long and it's already written so it should be up tomorrow! :)_

_Also, in terms of Rome... Just because he's gone back to Miami doesn't mean that he's out of the story. You will see him again trust me!_

R&R


	16. Chapter 16

_Two months later…_

All the good news kept piling up. Lacey and Leon moved in together the day after she asked. They decorated a little and even went out to buy some things together that they needed. Jesse and Rachel had had a successful second date, and a successful third date _and _a successful fourth date until they finally became a couple. Rachel had gotten to know the team before that point. She wasn't as into cars as the others but no one seemed to mind, she was an architect who had moved to LA for her new job. She was living in a small apartment and was planning on upgrading to a house in a few years if she could afford it. The only thing that didn't change much in LA was Dom and Letty's arguments but when did they not argue? They only ever lasted a few minutes now before they realised how stupid they were being and made up.

Away from LA Rome called from Miami to say how much the garage had picked up. Tej explained that they were making so much profit that they could close the place for a whole month and not have to worry (not that they would). There's was changes all over and Mia was more than happy to see that they were all positive. There were even changes in Jamie.

He was now five months old and was a lot more aware of his surroundings. He was recognising everyone better and even pointing them out if they were mentioned. He instantly looked up whenever Brian or Mia spoke and would instantly reach for them. When he wasn't focusing on other people and zoning in on them talking he would sit up on his own and try his best to feed himself.

The fact that he was interacting more and seemed more alert prompted Mia and Brian to suggest that they go to Miami for a holiday. It had been a while since they had all gotten away from it all and with things getting so good it was about time they relaxed.

"Hey," Mia said softly as she wrapped her arms around Brian. He was looking into the room they were staying in, watching Jamie quietly. "Leave him to sleep."

"It's different here, will he be OK?"

"Of course he will," she smiled against his back.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

She moved him round to face her. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," he shook his head.

"Brian, seriously, tell me."

When he didn't respond she grabbed his hand and then the baby monitor in the other before leading him outside to sit on the front steps. He didn't say anything and with no one else outside with them it was strangely quiet.

"Brian, you're scaring me," she admitted. "This isn't the first time you've been worried about him. What aren't you telling me?"

"I just worry about him," he shrugged. "I never understood why you were as paranoid about Jamie as you were. I mean I get with the early labour but I still didn't understand the extreme paranoia, how you couldn't be apart from him for too long. But I think I get it now. I guess I just feel it more because we're somewhere new, somewhere he's never been before."

"It's good to be scared," she smiled. "Not as scared as I used to be, but when you find the right amount it works. It means you won't let your guard down and he'll always be safe."

"You think I can do that?"

"Keep him safe? Of course you can! I would never doubt that, not ever," she said strongly. "Why are you even questioning it?"

"Just been thinking."

"Talk to me," she urged. "Please."

"My Dad was never around," he finally caved. "Apparently he was real excited about a family, but when I started school he kept working later and later. Couple of years before my teens he started going away for a couple of days at a time, no doubt doing anything but work like he said. When I hit fourteen I never saw him again. When he was around he never sat and did homework with me, he never asked me about my day, he never taught me about sports, he never taught me how to ride a bike, in fact, I don't even remember what he looks or sounds like."

"And your Mum?" Mia gulped.

"Mum was alright I suppose," he shrugged. "She cared a damn sight more, but she was always busy. She helped with school stuff but she was working double shifts because Dad was never around, and that only increased when he left for good so I never saw her either. It's not like I could blame her though was it? I guess I did back then but now that I think about it I wish I didn't, she had no choice, I understand that."

"What happened after our Dad left and she did more work then?"

"I'd met Rome before that but we weren't really friends, when they both seemed to slip away from me I got closer to Rome. It was only ever him and his Mum so he was in the same situation. She tried her hardest to be interested in his life but like my Mum she had to work a lot of shifts, unfortunately it meant Rome and I had no one to tell us we were being bad or to stop us."

"What did you do?" It was clear she was scared to ask but she wanted to know, he was always so quiet about his past but now he was opening up, no way was she running away now.

"Got into fights with some locals, robbed some small places," he shrugged. "Stupid kid stuff though. It was only ever sweets or junk we didn't need, never went away for it until one time things got worse. We decided to steal from another place but this time Rome got a little bit adventurous and took some money too. We were caught outside a second later by a cop, he made us so nervous that Rome spilled the beans there and then. We went to juvey for a little while, I can never remember how long, but I remember I didn't get the time to get used to it before we were released again."

"And the cars?"

"Rome learned a thing or too and taught me. We then taught ourselves after that," he explained. "We taught ourselves how to drive, learned some things from the older kids we knew. By time we got our licences we were pro, it was what prompted one of the older guys we knew, Marco, to let us race one of his cars so we could get money to buy cars of our own. Naturally it wasn't free, he took ten percent of our winnings when we used his cars but as soon as we had bought our own cars and didn't need much money fast he asked for twenty-five percent."

"And you gave it to him?"

"'Course we did," he laughed. "No way we'd get into races without him, sixteen or not we had only just bought our own cars and had only had our licence less than a year. Who would believe we were good unless someone vouched? So we rode with him, until we hit eighteen and realised that people actually thought we could race and wanted to challenge us even without Marco. Hell we got personally invited to parties, and well under the legal age we loved it. That's when we told Marco we weren't paying him no more and he cut us off."

"But you still raced?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "We did good too, brought home lots of money. Our Mums didn't have to work as much so we spent a little bit more time with them. Things were still not the same with them though, hell they didn't even question how we got hold of that sort of money. I doubt they really cared. So we kept racing for a long time until we got caught one night. Police stormed the place and arrested us."

"What happened to you?"

"We got sent down, we'd given the most recent money to our Mum's and the police stormed before we could get our winnings. We had no money to bail, our own Mum's wouldn't pay, well Rome's Mum had spent the money on the house and that so she couldn't, but still we were stuck. We ended up getting a sentence but I got a chance."

"How?" Mia asked, slightly surprised. "What happened to Rome?"

"Rome went down, but he had the choice too. One of Dad's old friends was a cop, I met him a couple of times when I was really young, before Dad realised for definite that he didn't want this family life. Anyway, he heard I was in, well recognised the name, when he was sure it was me he made a deal. Said if I joined the force then he'd give me a good word so I'd have little to no sentence. Rome got the same deal, I refused to even think about it unless he was offered too."

"Why would he even offer?"

"They were short staffed believe it or not," Brian laughed. "Not enough people to cover all the areas, and most of the officers were same age, meaning a lot would retire in a few years and then the rest would only have a few more years before they started to think about it. They needed new people to train up. I guess the person who got the most recruits to sign up got promoted or something like that. because a few months after I signed up he was in a suit all the time and flashing the cash."

"Don't you need training or some sort of certificate?"

Brian shrugged. "I was never bad at school anyway, bad at life but not at school. Plus, they put you through all the training, make you sit a bunch of tests, all of that crap. I took the deal, it was how I became a cop in the first place. Naturally Rome didn't and he kept getting into trouble. He stopped speaking to me after that until I saw him after I left LA when I screwed things up."

"It all ended pretty good," Mia commented. "Apart from falling out with Rome of course."

"Sure it did," he sighed. "But I screwed up a lot before then and it was all down to my Dad leaving and then my Mum realising she didn't have time to care. I was lucky. But what if I'm like him? What if I screw up Jamie's life? I know you wouldn't stop caring, no matter what you had to do, but what if _I _fuck up?"

"You won't," Mia promised.

"I will," he said sadly. "And then he'll hate me. You know I never went to my Dad's funeral, didn't even know he died until four years later. I went to Mum's even though I grew to hate her back then but I didn't want to be there, I just felt I had to be."

Suddenly her hands were placed on either side of his face as she turned his head to look at her. "You're talking like you have a choice in the matter. You don't. You'll be good to him and if you're not then I'll kick your ass before I let the team lose on you. Not that I need to because I know you. From the sounds of things you've messed up enough times to not want that for him. He's perfectly safe here or anywhere else as long as he has us, the two of us. That's all that matters. You're still here and he knows that."

Brian tried to look anywhere but at her, trying to decide whether or not she was right. He had a family when he was Jamie's age but then that all slipped away from him without his input. He would never expect Jamie to take on the life he did as a teen but at the end of the day when you know that at least one of your parents doesn't love you then you'll do just about anything to keep your mind off of it.

"Good thing I have you to keep me on the straight and narrow," he mumbled quietly.

"You have yourself for that," she grinned. "The fact you're worrying shows that you want to be here. Otherwise you wouldn't think about it and you'd just go."

He nodded a little, feeling slightly better as he did. "Yeah, you're right. I just don't want to let him down."

"You won't, no matter what happens," she assured. "Now let's go back inside. We're about to start eating, it's originally what I came up to tell you."

Without another word she moved to her feet then turned to help Brian up. Hand in hand they walked back into the house. It was Tej and Suki's new place, they had bought it and not even told the team, even Rome had kept quiet. Seemed the good news just kept on spreading. It was big too, meaning that the whole team could stay, even if they did have to share. Mia, Brian and Jamie were in one room, Letty and Dom in another, Leon and Lacey in a third room, with Vince and Jesse sharing the last room. Rachel was supposed to come with them but with her new job and the fact that she hadn't quite spent as much time with the team she felt a little uncomfortable.

The others were all down from their rooms already, each of them sat around the table with Suki, Tej and Rome. The boys from the garage were invited to come round for the meal too but each of them kindly denied, not wanting to get in the way of everything.

"I was thinking," Tej said as they were digging into their food. "When are you two finally getting hitched?"

"We've been looking at venues and all the wedding stuff we'll need but we haven't set a date yet," Mia sighed.

"How about next week?"

Brian choked slightly on his orange juice. "Excuse me?" He coughed.

"Yeah," Suki said excitedly. "There's that small church near here, it's quiet and secluded, and it's really pretty too. We spoke to the priest there, Father Jacobs, he said that we could have service next Saturday. You'll still be here right?"

When Mia and Brian didn't respond, Dom spoke up. "Well we were going to go home next Saturday, only meant to be here a week, but we can stay an extra few days."

"Did you all know about this?" Mia asked them all.

"Yeah," Letty said excitedly. "Well yes and no. We only found out while we were waiting on you guys."

"Rome kept dropping hints," Leon laughed. "So we asked them to cut the shit and just tell us what was going on."

"So are up for it or not?" Tej asked.

"I am if you are," Mia told Brian.

"It's a bit short notice to start planning isn't it?"

"Nope," Tej shook his head. "Church is ours if you want it, the whole family is here, we have cars and Suki is going to take you girls dress shopping and I'll take the guys for suits," he shrugged.

"Wow," Mia breathed. "OK, so clothes are sorted, but the reception afterwards?"

"Done," Rome laughed. "Small venue, just us, the boys and anyone else you want to invite."

"Wow, so everything is sorted?" Brian gaped.

"Of course," Suki said happily. "Including your bachelor and bachelorette parties!"

"Whoa, no, no," Brian shook his head. "We weren't doing anything like that."

"Man, like you have a choice," Rome chuckled.

And he didn't have a choice, neither did Mia. The next day they were all taken out to get suits and dresses. The girls surprisingly had no trouble at all, Mia naturally went for the typical white wedding dress. She picked a trail long enough to drag on the floor, but not so long that it followed miles behind her. There was a slight pattern on the bust which was strapless, and it flowed outwards from the waist down. With it she picked out some white heels and a veil. For the bridesmaid dresses the colours were a pale blue colour. They each touch the ground slightly and were strapless. There was a band around the middle that tied as bow at the back in a slightly darker shade of blue.

The boys took a lot longer to sort their clothes. They got Brian's tux first and then little Jamie's. It took them forever to decide on a colour to go in the other's suits and to actually find a style they liked. When they did finally get them it was only because Lacey called to let the boys know that their colours were blue. The suits they settled for included a plain black jacket and suit trousers, a white shirt, a blue vest (very similar to the colour of the bridesmaid dresses) with bits of white/silver through it to make a pattern. They kept the shoes simple and then they were off.

After clothes the girls picked up some flowers for them to hold when walking down the aisle. Mia got the biggest bunch with the largest variety as she was the bride, Letty got the next biggest bunch with almost the same sort of variety as she was maid of honour and then Lacey and Suki's bunches were only small as they were bridesmaids. The boys didn't worry about such things, thinking it would be fine to just go in the clothes they had bought.

After the shopping was done the team all met up and headed over to the church to get a feel for the place. The path leading from the gate to the front doors of the church had trees on either side so it was littered with tiny little petals. As they pushed through the doors and stepped in it looked just as small on the inside as it seemed on the outside. There were only about ten rows on each side of the aisle which could sit about twelve people or so if they squeezed, if not maybe about eight. The alter and that was at the front with statues, pictures, candles and other such things running down the side.

They spoke with Father Jacobs for a while who explained what the service would involve. They changed a couple of details but otherwise they all left feeling pretty happy at the fact that this wedding was actually going to happen.

When they got to the hall that the reception would be at it was just as small. Tej explained that music would be set up at the back of the hall, there would be round tables for everyone to sit and eat, there would be a buffet to the right and then the bar on the left would be open. They were going to sort the decorations out the day before the wedding so it was fresh for the day of.

While they were there they sat around and Mia and Brian said what sort of decorations they wanted, what sort of music, what kind of food and who they definitely wanted invited. In the end the guest list included them, the guys at the garage, some of the regulars from the race scene and if they could make it: Hector and the boys from back in LA. It would only be a small service and after party but that's all they wanted. Plain and simple.

* * *

_R&R_


	17. Chapter 17

The week between the Sunday they went shopping and the Friday before the wedding passed quickly. They spoke to some of the regulars and invited them along to the reception, but other than that there was no more mention or planning about the wedding.

All the boys did was make sure plans were sorted for the bachelor party so that when the night arrived they were ready to go. They didn't want to have to worry about cars and such so they took a couple of taxi's and headed out. Brian was worried at first and almost never went out, he was too worried about Jamie. Seen as the whole team were going out on the same night they needed someone to look after Jamie, it had ended up with Jimmy and a couple of the guys from the garage babysitting. It wasn't that Brian didn't trust them but he wasn't sure any of them had ever held a baby in their entire lives.

"Lighten up or I'll make you," Rome warned him as they stopped at the bar for more dirnks.

"I'm just worried about Jamie," Brian sighed.

"Don't be," he assured. "You heard the girls they won't be drinking much."

"I'd rather be sober if anything happens."

"Nothing will unless you keep thinking about it so stop," Rome warned. "You'll jynx everything. Now come and enjoy your last night of freedom."

"Technically I lost my last night of freedom a while back."

"Technicality," Rome scoffed as he dragged Brian over to the table they had claimed.

Typically enough they had all convinced Brian that it would a good idea to go to a strip club instead of a normal bar or club. Vince was more than pleased with this idea, and naturally so was Rome. Dom, Jesse, Leon and Tej were all worried about the women who waited for them, but even they loosened up in the end. It took Brian a hell of a lot longer.

In fact it took a private show, two lap dances and about five shots to even get him to start. After that the alcohol kept flooding in and lap dances kept coming. Soon the alcohol took such an effect that he didn't even bother trying to talk himself out of the lap dances the boys ordered for him.

"I want to go home," Brian whined a few hours later.

"I want to go home," Vince whined back, trying his hardes to take the mick out of Brian but only slurring his words more.

"No going home," Rome said angrily.

Dom and Leon the only two that could probably walk in a straight line, talk with hardly any problem and think straight. They walked at the back of the group so they could keep an eye out. Brian was walking in the middle with his shoulders hunched and a sad look on his face. Rome had an arm around him to stop him from running away and Tej was on the other side to ensure the same thing. Vince was a little behind them, stumbling along and muttering to himself. Every so often he would randomly reach out and grab hold of Jesse to steady him. Jesse was stumbling a hell of a lot more than most of them, in fact if they stopped long enough he would probably drop to the floor and pass out.

"Where are we even going?" Dom called out.

"Another bar!" Rome yelled.

"Strip club," Vince corrected angrily.

"I wanna go home," Brian complained.

"Why do you wanna go home, Bri?" Leon chuckled.

"Go home," he said stubbornly, sounding very much like a child.

"No, bar!" Rome yelled again.

"Strip club," Vince growled.

"Fine, strip club," Rome pouted, but his "r" was replaced by a "w".

Jesse stopped suddenly and let out a groan. Leon rolled his eyes and moved forward. He pulled one of Jesse's arms over his shoulder then wrapped one of his arms around Jesse's waist. "No more bars or strip clubs," Leon groaned as he tried to support nearly all of Jesse's weight. "He's gonna pass out very soon if we give him any more to drink."

"Then take him to the hotel," Rome compromised.

"Dom," Leon groaned. "Don't get me wrong, I planned to drink a hell of a lot more than this but come on."

"Yeah," Dom said loudly. "Everyone back to the hotel."

Groans and complaints could be heard. Eventually words slurred so much that none of them could be understood and by time they'd walked a couple of blocks they fell quiet. Some of their senses coming back to them.

When they got to their hotel the split off into their rooms They had four, three with two single beds and one with a double. Brian took the room with double, Tej and Rome shared a room, Leon and Jesse shared another and Dom and Vince shared the last.

Brian stumbled in and managed to shut the door behind him. It took him a good fifteen minutes or so but he eventually got his belt undone and his jeans down. He went to pull his top off but he kept tugging it at such an awkward angle that it always got stuck. Feeling frustrated he just let go and collapsed onto the bed, groaning into his pillow, upset by the fact that he couldn't take his top off.

* * *

When he woke up the next morning he still had his faced buried in the pillow only difference was he now had a banging headache and the groan he gave was in response to that, not clothing that he couldn't operate. With a much louder groan he rolled out of bed and stumbled towards the bathroom.

His head spun and he let out a quieter groan at his reflection. His eyes were red and he looked like he'd been through the works a few times. He set the shower on to the coldest temperature, stripped down and climbed in. He tried not to wince away as the jet hit him, he stayed under it until he was fully awake and conscious of everything around him.

When he came out the others were stumbling into his room through Tej and Rome's room which was adjoined to his. They were all trying to sort their ties out and do up their vest. Each looked alert but their hair was all over the place and their clothes a little messy. As they attempted to get their themselves in a better looking state Brian grabbed what he needed and went back into the bathroom. He started with his hair, then his clothes and then he covered anything he missed. He was leaning down trying to tie his shoes when there was urgent knocking on the door.

"Seriously Bri get out here," Tej yelled.

"Yeah, get your ass off that toilet," Rome said as he banged the door. "This is urgent."

Brian opened the door and almost got hit in the face by Rome's fist as it came down to hit the door. He dodged it and glared angrily at them. "What time is your wedding at?"

"Mia said twelve because she didn't think we'd be up before eleven and it wouldn't take us long to dress, which it hasn't."

"Dude," Leon said seriously. "It's ten to twelve."

"What?" he gulped. "The church is a good twenty/thirty minutes from here!"

"I know," Tej gulped. "I thought it was a good idea. I figured it was best to be far away from the church seen as we would be dressed in five then have too much time to spare. We would have been going out of our minds with boredom."

"Well that was a wrong move," Vince pointed out.

"Said the guy who wanted to go to another strip club," he shot back.

"Hey, blame Rome too if you're gonna be like that," Vince growled. "He wanted to go to more bars."

"I feel sick," Jesse groaned.

"No being sick," Leon told him gently.

"Guys," Brian yelled."Help? We have ten minutes to get to that wedding, I'm supposed to be there before Mia. She is _never _late."

"He's right," Dom nodded.

"Hate to say it, but yeah he is," Vine agreed.

It took them way too long to work out what to do. In the end they decided not to go back for the car they were going in and then to the church. Instead they would just take a taxi straight there. It meant it would take no more than twenty minutes if traffic was good.

Luckily for them there was hardly any traffic and when there was it moved quick meaning they got to the church by ten past twelve. Dom jogged over to the church, when he looked back at the taxi's he nodded at them that it was OK.

It seemed Mia and the girls were running late too. Dom stayed by the door so he could walk Mia up the aisle when she arrived while Brian and the others went up to the front to wait. Brian let out a sigh of relief the further up the aisle he got, especially when he saw Jimmy on the front row with Jamie, he picked him up and held onto him softly, this was going to go off well.

* * *

A/N: _I have the bachelorette party in the next one, although I don't like it as much as this chapter so I'm going to post it later today so there'll be two updates today! :)_

_R&R_


	18. Chapter 18

While the boys went out on their little last night of freedom the girls stayed in. Seen there was just the four of them they crowded in the living room with a couple of bottles of drink, some food to nibble on and music to keep them company.

"Why did you tell Brian we wouldn't drink too much?" Letty groaned.

"Because we're not going to," Mia laughed.

"Fine, but I'm so making up for this by drinking most of that bar's contents tomorrow."

"As long as you drink after the service then go right ahead," Mia shrugged.

The only reason Mia was sticking to this plan was because she wanted at least some of the team to be sober for her wedding. Knowing the guys they would be drinking so much that they'd all be suffering from a hangover the next day. So she was adamant that they were going to be sensible. However Mia didn't notice that whenever her glass started to look empty Suki would sneakily fill it up. And how Letty and Lacey would replace bottles with full ones as they emptied out. There was a small stash hidden behind one of the chairs that Letty and Lacey used, Mia never noticed a thing.

After a while they didn't have to be sneaky. Mia was constantly reaching out for another glass and never questioned why the bottles hadn't run out yet. She only accepted the drink happily and then tried her hardest to dance around the room, making sure to drag each of the girls up in turn. The more she drank the harder dancing became and the less she was able to sing when her favourite songs came on.

"I thought I said not much alcohol," Mia whined after it became too much effort to dance and all she could do was sit.

"Bit late for that," Letty laughed.

"Yeah, keep going," Lacey urged.

"Don't worry!" Suki called out.

"About what?" Letty and Mia both asked, sounding confused.

"I... I... I..." Suki's eyebrows knitted together and she frowned. "Dunno."

The two girls started giggling and Suki just seemed upset. Lacey rolled her eyes and just staggered off to get another bottle. To be honest she was probably quite sober compared to the others. At least she wasn't spilling her drink because she missed her mouth like Letty, at least she wasn't upset because she lost her train of thought, and at least she wasn't upset about the fact that she couldn't seem to stop drinking more alcohol. Yeah, she definitely was the most sober out of the lot.

* * *

When Mia woke up she groaned heavily. She reached out to pat the space around her, this wasn't her bed, or a bed at all, no it was much harder than that. As her eyes opened up slightly she realised that she was sprawled out on the concrete path by the back door. She groaned slightly as she tried to move but couldn't properly. She twisted her top half round to see that Letty was lying across her legs, then Suki across Letty and finally Lacey across Suki. All four women were face down with their heads slightly turned so they could breathe.

"Guys," she croaked.

They didn't move so she coughed a little to clear her throat. "Guys!"

They all groaned in response and rolled away from each other. They all patted around and tried to work out where they were before opening their eyes.

"Why are we outside?" Lacey asked.

"I don't know," Suki frowned. "I can't remember."

"Well let's get inside," Letty said. "I'm freezing."

The girls managed to pick themselves up and stumble inside. As they walked they found bottles and glasses all over the place. None of them wanted to think about it as they made their way upstairs to shower and get ready. Lucky for them it was only ten forty-five which meant they had a little over an hour before the wedding.

Showering didn't take them long, each of them didn't want to move from under the spray but knew that they had to. Although as they tried to apply their make-up they wished they'd stayed in the shower. They paired up, Mia with Letty and Lacey with Suki. They helped each other, with shaky and unsure hands, to apply some make-up. Lifting the dresses up around themselves and doing them up was the most frustrating part but when it was finally out of the way they got to work on their hair. They settled for simple neat buns except for Mia who wore her hair lose and wavy.

"How are we doing on time?" Mia asked as she put her veil on, the final touch.

"Erm, how long does it take to get to the church?" Lacey asked Suki.

"From here about fifteen minutes at the most."

"We'll get there dead on twelve, maybe a couple of minutes after," Lacey mumbled.

She whipped round. "_What_?"

"Don't worry," Letty said soothingly. "It's better if you're a little late, OK? It'll add to the suspension, make Brian sweat a little."

Mia frowned a little at that and nodded. They helped her step into her shoes without falling over before Lacey sprayed her with some perfume. The four of them checked everything over and went downstairs to where the car waited. One of the guys Tej knew offered to drive them so they didn't have to fork out much money. It wasn't massive inside but it was comfortable and Mia found herself relaxing... Until they turned up at the church.

When they arrived Letty went in first to see if everything was in order but as she walked back to the car she wished she hadn't even gone inside. Mia looked at her hopefully through the open window but it soon vanished when she saw the look on Letty's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked instantly.

"Nothing, but it's still a bit early why don't we go for a drive around for a little bit?"

"Why?" Lacey frowned.

"Don't want to rush things," Letty shrugged.

"Rush what?" Mia demanded. "There's us four, the six guys, Jimmy, Jamie and Father Jacobs. Hector and that can't make it for the service. So what's there to rush?"

Letty climbed back into the car and sighed. "The guys aren't here yet."

Mia sunk slightly in her seat, heart racing. "Yeah, drive around for a bit," she mumbled.

And they did. Only problem was when they got back they had to drive again, and again. They had rushed and forced the driver to go as fast as possible so they could get there a couple of minutes after twelve. Mia was proud that things were almost exactly on time. But slowly she was starting to loose faith that this would all turn out the way she hoped.

A little of that hope came back when they came round the corner after the third time. It was about ten past twelve and the boys were all tumbling out of the car and heading into the church. The girls car parked up after they were out of sight and when Mia got out the boys had already gone inside but Dom was stood by the door. Mia frowned slightly. They had been late.

* * *

A/N: _I meant to put this on a couple of chapters ago, but I want ya'll to know that I do listen to your reviews and I appreciate all of them! __ appreciate every single one of you so much and I want you all to know how much you and your reviews mean to me! Please keep them coming, it really helps a lot. :)_

_R&R_


	19. Chapter 19

Dom gave a small smile to the girls as they came closer to him, managing to sneak in a kiss for Letty before he held his arm out for Mia. She took it but the frown never left her face. Dom noticed it almost instantly, and a frown passed across his own face in response. What was up with her? He tried to make eye contact with her in order to find out the answers but she kept her eyes dead ahead. He would have looked behind at the others to ask them but he knew that would probably get him into trouble.

His heart and mind calmed ever so slightly as a smile finally picked up on her face but her eyes still showed that something was up. When he looked up the aisle properly he realised that it was seeing little Jamie that made her smile, typical Mia, she couldn't be sad around him. It was always because she physically couldn't feel sad around him or it was because she didn't want him to see her upset.

When they got to the front he kissed Mia's cheek, her smile grew a little but then went back to normal, her eyes never changing. He quietly stepped away. He would have sat down on the front row with the others but instead he stood with Brian and Rome, he wasn't about to relax when he knew something wasn't right with Mia.

Letty, Suki and Lacey piled into the front row that was on the right side of the aisle, while the left front row was occupied by Vince, Jimmy, Leon and Jesse. Mia suddenly reached out as Jamie spotted her and he equally stretched for her.

"Hey you," she said softly as she held him.

He reached up and patted her cheeks with happy sequel.

"Not gonna say hi back?" she asked. But he only responded with random noises and more pats on her cheeks. "No? Oh, OK…"

"What's up?" Brian asked softly, clearly noting the same thing Dom had.

She gave him a stern look. "You know what's up."

"No, I don't," he shook his head.

"You were late." She tried to keep her tone easy and light for Jamie's sake.

He gulped. He hadn't realised she knew. They had gotten here first. "How-"

"How do I know? Oh maybe because we got here and had to drive around more than once, only to see you lot turn up."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "The hotel was further away then we thought."

"It was all that alcohol you drank," she corrected. "Not that that should be an excuse we drank our fair share. And granted we were late too but only by a couple of minutes. If we could manage it why couldn't you guys?"

"I'm sorry, Mi," he sighed. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I thought there would be no more drama," she whispered as she shifted Jamie to hold him against her hip.

"There won't be," he promised. "Well, I'll try my hardest not to bring drama to us."

She gave a half smile. "I don't really expect that to ever happen. There's no way on earth that there won't be any drama when it comes to this family."

"Yeah, it is easily attracted isn't it?" Brian smiled. "Look, I shouldn't have been late, trust me I was scared senseless of the outcome but I really want to marry you and I am not delaying it anymore. We are doing this now. If you're still with me that is."

"Of course I am," she smiled, but a real one this time. "I just didn't know how to react. It felt like you didn't care."

"I do care, this is all I want," he urged. "I don't care if I have to barricade everyone in until you see that."

She reached up and gave him a kiss, Jamie waved his arms and giggled as they did. As they parted Dom took Jamie from her and they turned to face the front of the church, ready to get married.

* * *

After the service Jimmy went straight to the hall to meet everyone and make sure everything was in order while the wedding party stayed at the church to get photos taken. They walked around the grounds and the small park that was almost directly across the road from the church, stopping every so often to have their photo snapped by the professional photographer that Lacey had managed to find and book.

After the photos they all went to the reception, ensuring that Brian and Mia would be the last to enter. When they did they were met by a round of congratulations from everyone before people came up individually. Some carried cards and presents while others had put there's on an empty table.

Brian and Mia walked around while the music played to ensure that they got to speak to everyone. Once they had, they settled down at their table with the others and allowed themselves a drink. Brian sat with Jamie on his lap who kept playing with Mia's free hand. After their little break speeches were done, then their first dance together before the food was made available and everyone was free to enjoy their night with hopefully no more interruptions.

"Vince is stuck," Letty commented as she came back to sit with Mia.

She glanced over and found Vince at a table _talking _with a girl. "He looks happy to be there though."

"So I'm not the only one who sees it?" Letty asked.

"No, he actually looks like he's enjoying just talking to her," Mia nodded.

"Depends what he's saying," Letty shrugged. "For all we know he's flirting."

"No, he'd be dancing," Mia shook her head. "And he doesn't look like he is."

"And you know what Vince looks like when he flirts?"

"You know I do, now shut up."

"Hey all the guys seem to be maturing and settling down. Do you think Vince is thinking about doing the same thing?"

"But he's only just met her. She's someone Brian knows."

"Where is that husband of yours?"

Mia blushed slightly. "I don't know."

Letty spotted him and ran towards him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards the table. She made him sit between her and Mia, he looked absolutely terrified.

"What's going on?" he gulped. "Is it about Jamie? Did I do something? 'Cause I didn't…"

"Jamie's fine," Letty shook her head. "He's with Hector and that, and you didn't do anything."

"Then why the urgency?" he asked curiously.

"Who's that girl?" Letty asked as she pointed at Vince.

"Angie," he smiled. "Or Angela, depends how she introduces herself now."

"Sounds like you haven't spoken to her in a while," Mia commented.

He nodded in agreement. "I haven't. I knew her when I was still in school, she was part of the race scene when I first started racing. Nothing like the skanks if that's what you're both thinking. She's not like that, doesn't believe in a onetime thing when it comes to guys. She's more of the relationship type."

"And she's talking to _Vince_?" Letty asked.

"She would have made that perfectly clear," Brian shrugged. "Especially if he tried it on."

"Maybe Vince really is thinking about getting serious with someone," Mia breathed, finding that thought strange.

"Well, if he's really serious about settling down with someone then Angie is probably the best person," Brian smiled. "She don't take much shit from anyone so she wouldn't be too afraid to put him in his place."

"No," Letty said suddenly, shaking her head. "This is crazy. It's Vince we're talking about, they're just being nice. You'll see. Later on he'll be up drinking and dancing with any girl he can get a hold of, that's including us."

"As long as he stays away from Mia," Brian shrugged. "Especially when he's drunk."

"None of that," Mia warned.

He just rolled his eyes before being dragged up to dance. Letty moved away too and eventually nearly everyone was up dancing. Throughout the night Vince did indeed drink, and yes he was dancing with almost every girl but Mia couldn't help notice that the only girl he danced with more than once (besides Letty, Suki, Lacey and herself) was Angie. It didn't feel right, probably because Vince had never really settled properly for someone, but she couldn't deny that it made her happy.

* * *

A/N: _hey guys! I'm hoping that updates should be more regular on this story from now on :)_

_In terms of Brian's past it will be brought up here and there (there might even be flashbacks) but I couldn't ensure when or how many times. But now that he's already opened up a little about his past he knows he doesn't have to be afraid to open up again (mostly to Mia)._

_R8R_


	20. Chapter 20

After the wedding they spent a couple more days in Miami before heading back to LA. Only they were't in LA for long. Not only had Brian and Mia's wedding been planned, but of course their honeymoon was being paid for too, something that was planned a while back. It was two weeks in Spain, Majorca to be exact. They both all for it, although they were a little unsure about taking what money the guys had saved up as well as their own, and then they were even more unsure when they found out Jamie wasn't coming with them. Instead he would be staying at the Toretto house. It took a while but eventually the team managed to persuade the two of them to leave. So a few hours later they were packed, and on a plane.

When they arrived it was late, close to midnight. They managed to stumble their way up to their room after checking in, and once they were safely locked inside they collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

"Bri?" Mia asked as she rolled over.

"Yeah?"

She opened her eyes to see him sitting at the small table in their room, a cup of coffee in his hands and his eyes on the TV. "How long have you been awake?"

"About an hour."

"How does the place look?"

He glanced at her. "Take a look."

She groaned as she rolled out of bed, something she didn't want to do. After adjusting her clothes slightly she looked around the room she was in. The headboard of the double bed she was on was up against the middle of the left wall as you came through the door. The bathroom door was on the right side of the bed and a chest of drawers was on the other side of the bed. Against the right wall was the TV which sat on a unit (that held the mini-fridge) and a floor length mirror. The table sat in the open space that was beyond where the bed and TV were. It was small and round with four chairs, beyond that was the back wall which was made up mostly of a patio window that led out to a balcony. On the wall with the main door the only other thing was a wardrobe.

Mia stepped through into the bathroom. There was a tub/shower to the left, a toilet straight a head of her and a sink next to that. On the wall the door was on there was a counter with three cupboards underneath, a mirror on top and some bathroom essentials.

"We owe them all big time," she smiled.

"Yeah," he nodded. "For the wedding and this place. I can't believe we didn't spend a single penny."

"Well, let's try and spend our own money here then we can at least give them the money they gave us to keep."

"Sounds good," he agreed.

"I'm going to change, then unpack, maybe we could walk around and see what's about?"

He gave a slight nod. She smiled and grabbed some clean clothes out of the bag before heading into the bathroom.

* * *

"How come no matter what happens or where we go we always seem to end up at the beach?" Brian asked.

"Well, we're on a sort of holiday, the beach is an obvious go," Mia grinned.

"Yeah, OK, but that doesn't explain all the other times."

"I like the beach," she laughed. "No big deal."

"Why do you?" he asked softly.

"Nothing bad has ever happened at the beach."

"Mi?" he asked gently.

"We came here when Mum died, Dad didn't know how to tell us so he bought us here to have some fun before he had to tell us for sure. It made the whole thing a little better. It's why I came to the beach when Dad died. I also came to the beach when any of my relationships ended, I came when there were fights, I came when there was trouble, I came when you left..."

He tried to ignore the fact that he was part of it all. "Trouble?"

"Yeah, like with Tran and other stuff, nothing big," she shrugged. "But when you're young it seems a whole lot bigger. What about you? Where do you go to get away?"

"Erm, depends, there's a few."

"I want to know them all," she smiled. She crossed her legs and turned to face him properly, showing that he had her complete attention.

"Well, when I was a kid, I used to make little forts in my room. I used bed sheets and pillows and my toys, anything that could make a little tent. I'd use a flashlight so I could see inside, it would be my little den and nothing outside of it could get in to hurt me."

"How old were you exactly?"

He shrugged. "I think I stopped making them when I was eight."

"What could of hurt you before then?"

"Not what you're thinking," he smiled. "Just usual kid stuff. Monster's under the bed, in the cupboard."

"So when you grew out of that, where did you go next?"

"When I was eight I started climbing out of my window, there was a small roof sedition from the outhouse right below my window. I could easily reach it, so I would climb out and sit there. I still find myself going outside a lot, although I don't have to use the window now. I would stay out there for ages."

"Sounds nice," she smiled, and it did. Being somewhere all alone, able to breathe and not have to worry.

"It was," he agreed. "I kept that going for a while, then I started hanging out with Rome more so we'd sneak out and roam the streets and then of course the racing."

"What did you hide from?" she asked timidly. "I mean... You don't have to tell me..."

He thought about whether or not to tell her. His life wasn't a terrible one, he just had a Dad that left and a Mum who stopped caring, but did he really want her to know everything about him and his past? Granted it was only their first real first day of the honeymoon so he could get it out there now and relax for the rest of it with no more issues. Would she let it drop completely?

"After Dad left for good Mum would just cry, she was in denial at first."

_***Flashback***_

_"Mum?" Brian called as he pushed her bedroom door open. "Mum, you need to get out of bed."_

_"Is he home yet?" she asked, her voice hoarse._

_"No, Mum," Brian said sadly. "It's been a week, he's not coming home this time."_

_"You don't know that," she replied stubbornly._

_"Yes I do, Mum," he said, equally as stubborn. "And I know that you need to get up and go to work. We need some shopping, and you'll have to pay the bills at some point."_

_"They're not due for a while," she mumbled._

_"I know," he said sadly. "But if we have no money you won't be able to pay them when they're due."_

_"Go away, Brian," she groaned._

_"Mum, please," he begged._

_When she didn't respond he moved over to her bed and climbed on top. She was sprawled out in the middle, the covers over every inch of her. He let out a long sigh before reaching out and pulling the covers off of her face. Her hair was a mess and her skin pale except for the red around her eyes from crying. She turned her head further into the mattress in order to hide. Brian tried not to cry as he reached his hand out and placed it on her shoulder._

_"Brian, just go away," she yelled as she rolled over enough to throw him off._

_She didn't push him hard but his foot caught in the sheets and he tumbled off the bed, hitting his head off the unit at the bottom of the bed as he did. He curled up for a moment before he moved to his hand and knees. Blood dripped onto the carpet below him. He tried to ignore it as he got to his feet. His Mum was back under the covers completely again, making no move to check if he was OK. He held a hand to the cut on his forehead and tried his hardest not to cry._

_"I made you breakfast," he whispered before walking out._

_***End**** flashback***_

"So her being upset was what made you want to get away from everything?"

Brain nodded. "It was OK at first, I wanted to cry all the time but I coped, then things got worse and I just needed a break from it all."

"But she got better?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "After that I got away mostly because of how lonely it was. Mum was never home so it was usually just me. Sure I learned how to really look after myself but it started to get lonely. I had Rome during the day and when I started sneaking out but I had to go home sometime and it would all come back to me."

"I'm sure she still loved you."

"At first sure, but I guess she forgot how to love me," he shrugged. "I forgot how to love her too so it's not all bad."

"Bri, I wish I was there," she whispered. "I would have made you see that you weren't ever alone."

He kissed her softly. "You do that now. And I love it, but can we change the subject? Maybe go for a swim?"

And they did. She got up without a word and took hold of his hand. She tensed a little at how strong his grip was but she didn't say a word, instead she continued leading them down to the water. Eventually his grip relaxed and they floated in the water, not saying anything, just being.

* * *

They spent much of their honeymoon like that. At the beach, eating out, seeing the sites and generally just relaxing. Of course for a married couple they spent more than the needed amount of time in the room. And the subject of Brian's past didn't come up again. She could see he hated to talk about it and although she wanted him to be able to get it all off of his chest, he had asked that they changed the subject and she wasn't about to bring it up again too soon.

When their honeymoon reached the halfway point she almost brought it up again. He hadn't shown signs of being upset or that his past was plaguing much since his worry over Jamie in Miami but she was afraid that he was only pushing it aside, locking it up. But she didn't have the chance because the others decided to pay them a little visit.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mia practically squealed as she opened the door to reveal the team. She immediately took Jamie from Letty and carried him into the room.

The others followed close behind. "Thought we'd surprise ya."

"Rome?" Brian asked, clearly shocked. Mia looked around too, having not noticed him before.

"I was fishing around LA," he started. "And I think I might have found a place."

"Whoa, whoa, what?" Brian asked. "Start over."

"I found a place in LA, near the lot of ya," he laughed. "It's cheap and I won't be in LA all the time, but most of the time. I'll have to go back every so often to Miami for a couple of weeks at a time to check on the garage and stuff but yeah."

"Great," Brian groaned. "So I have to put up with your ass even more?"

He laughed loudly and jumped away as Rome narrowed his eyes and attempted to get at Brian. Mia rolled her eyes and set Jamie on the bed, where he sat and giggled happily.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We figured you'd be going out of your mind without Jamie," Letty commented. And it was true, Mia was. She tried not to admit it, Brian did too but they both missed him like crazy.

"And seen as you got him a passport we figured we'd use it," Dom grinned.

Jesse, Leon and Vince all took seats where they could. Mia was a little shocked not to see Rachel or Lacey with them, but her family was there so she wasn't about to complain even if it was a little short.

"Where are the girls?"

"Rachel had a big project," Jesse said sadly. "But it means I'll get her all to myself when we get back."

"Lacey felt it should just be us," Leon shrugged.

"How long are you guys here for?" Mia asked excitedly.

"Till the end of your honeymoon," Vince grinned. "But don't worry, we've got our own rooms throughout the hotel."

"We brought Jamie's small travel cot," Letty informed. "And a case with his clothes and a couple of toys. Not much else we could bring besides that."

Mia laid on her front on the bed. Jamie crawled towards her, laughing as he did. "I don't care," she grinned. "I'm sure what you brought was more than enough."

The team settled around the room comfortably, having already been to their own room. They settled into light conversation. They would stay out of the way of Brian and Mia so it could just be the two of them and Jamie, and whenever they wanted to be alone the team were only a few doors away to look after Jamie for a few hours. Mia didn't really care if they hung around them for the rest of the honeymoon, in fact neither did Brian. They had Jamie with them and that made up for it all.

* * *

A/N: _OK, about Brian's past, first of all I'm a little reluctant to put in too much or big things because I have a story planned which is all about Brian growing up and stuff, so I'm trying to save a lot of my ideas about Brian for that, however people keep asking for some so I will try to put in what I can :)_

_R&R_


	21. Chapter 21

"I wish he would just talk," Mia complained.

She was sat on the floor, her legs spread open while she pushed a small blow up ball towards Jamie. He would awkwardly push it back, and a grin would spread across his face each time he successfully did it.

"He's been here for two days and you're already back to complaining that he doesn't talk?" Brian chuckled.

"Well, it would just be nice to hear his voice," Mia commented as she played with Jamie. "I bet he sounds all cute and adorable."

"He's a baby, of course he's going to sound all cute and adorable."

"Well, he'll sound _better_," Mia argued.

"Well then let him take his time," Brian laughed.

She let out a sigh as she pushed the little ball back towards Jamie. He crawled across the floor to meet it halfway before he pushed it back to Mia with one hand. They kept this up, pushing it backwards and forwards and Mia would constantly asked him questions in the hopes that he would just come right out and answer them, only he didn't. He would make noises or smile at her but that was it. Well, a few times he just stared blankly at her, especially when she started to ramble.

"How's my favourite nephew?" Letty asked as the team came flooding into the room. She sat on the floor with them and pulled Jamie onto her lap.

"He's your _only _nephew," Mia laughed.

"Yeah, when's that gonna change?" Letty smirked.

"Not until he can walk and talk at least," Brian said before Mia could answer.

"Well more kids in the family would be great," Letty commented as she gave Jamie a kiss.

"Your new place still OK?" Mia asked Leon, changing the subject.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I think it's almost just the way we want it to be."

"You're all getting tied down too damn early," Vince said with a disproving look.

"We're _happy,_" Leon corrected. "Don't get the two mixed up."

"Rather you than me," he scoffed, but something in his tone of voice was a little off.

* * *

Letty continued to tease Mia about more kids for the rest of the day, but it all suddenly stopped the next day. In fact, Mia hardly saw Letty. She was always off with the others or her and Dom were spending time together. Mia was happy to see that the arguments were slowly disappearing. They rarely happened and when they did it seemed normal, hell, everyone argued at some point in their lives, plus it didn't help that that the two of them were both stubborn.

She reminded herself to ask them what it had all been about. To ask why they had been arguing more than usual recently, of course she knew she wasn't garneted a straight answer.

"What are you thinking about?" Brian asked her as they walked along, looking for somewhere to eat.

"Nothing," she smiled. "Just how things have changed."

"Yeah, they're getting better aren't they?"

Mia gave a slight nod. "Finally a clean slate."

"Finally?" he asked as they settled for a place and went to find a seat.

"Well sure." She sat down across from Brian and they ordered some drinks. "It's been a while since me and the team had anything from our past come back up, and well I hope that enough trouble has rose from yours… Maybe now this is our clean slate."

"I can hear the hesitation in your voice, Mi."

"I just think that you're worrying about things now because of your past," she whispered. "Maybe if you spoke about them a little?"

"Mia, I can't," he shook his head. "You're right this is our clean slate."

She only nodded, not wanting to push the matter. It worried her to think that he was afraid of what he might do, if only he would talk about it then maybe things would be better. Or maybe if she knew what had suddenly brought these feelings up. But instead she just smiled, ordered some food and changed the subject.

They spoke about changes they wanted to make to the house. Brian wanted to get some things for the back garden; a swing, a slide, maybe a tree house. Sure Jamie was a little young but at least if they got it all done now then it would be ready for when he was. They both wanted to put up more photos of the three of them and ones of just Jamie. Mostly they just wanted the place to look even more like a child lived there and that they were a family.

On the last day of their honeymoon Brian and Mia took Jamie to the beach. They bought two cheap buckets and a spade for them to build sandcastles. When they found a spot Brian set the towels down for them to sit on. Once they were comfortable Brian started to put sun block on Jamie before pushing arm bands onto his arms and a rubber ring round his middle.

"Excuse me, where are you going?" Mia demanded.

"For a swim," Brian shrugged.

"He can't swim!" she yelped.

"That's what all the floats are for," Brian laughed. "He'll be fine, I promise. We're only going in so far. Hell the water will probably only be up to my knees."

"I know you'll keep him safe," she sighed. "But he's never been in water except for a bath."

"And he loves those, right? Just think of it as a big bath."

Mia kept quiet as Brian picked Jamie up and carried him down to the water. They waded through until the water almost reached Brian's hips. He lowered Jamie into the water and Mia tensed, only breathing normally when Jamie floated thanks to the rubber ring around his middle. Brian kept his hands on Jamie just in case, and eventually he turned Jamie round to face away from him. He walked through the water, pushing Jamie through the water slowly. Mia could hear his happy squeals from where she sat.

Hearing that sound she relaxed completely, knowing that he was OK and he liked the water. She watched them "swim" about and play in the water before Brian carried Jamie back out of the water and over to her. He pulled the rubber ring and arm bands off of him and settled them on the towel before he passed Jamie to Mia who held open a towel.

"Gotcha," she whispered to him as she wrapped the towel around him.

He squirmed and let out a high pitched sequel as Mia dried him with the towel. When she was done he calmed down a little and leaned back against her chest. She kept her arms and the towel wrapped around him as Brian picked up the buckets and spade.

The two of them watched him suspiciously as he ran down towards the water. When he came back up both of the buckets were filled with water. He poured some of it on the dry sand near them then started to fill the bucket again, but this time with wet sand. Jamie watched curiously as he flattened it and then flipped the bucket. Brian hit it a few times and when he pulled the bucket away a small sandcastle was in its place. Jamie clapped happily and reached for it.

Mia shuffled closer with him, removing the towel as they went. Brian placed the bucket in front of Jamie and started to fill it. Jamie would take a fist full of wet sand and add it in every so often. When Brian flipped it he helped to hit the bucket and then lift it up, providing another clap when it turned out right.

They continued like this, making little sandcastles then moulding them together with bits of wet sand to make a bigger one (which looked more like an off shaped pyramid). When the wet sand ran out Brian used the second bucket to wet it again before getting more water. By time they were finished, Jamie was yawning and curling up in a small ball in Mia's lap.

* * *

_Hey guys, I hate to say it but there won't be many more chapters left with this. I never wanted that much drama because it was supposed to be a small happyish fic about Brian and Mia tackling parenthood, but like most families they'd have small bumps in the road. So there will be a couple or so possible surprises throughout, a tiny bit more on Brian's past and an end result for how his current feelings on being a Dad._

R&R


	22. Chapter 22

When they had gotten back Jamie woke up from his little nap. Mia gave him something to eat while Brian packed everything they wouldn't need in the morning. After eating Mia gave Jamie a little bath to wash all the salt water and sand away. Once he was dry and clean she settled him in his travel cot and took a shower herself. After hers she continued the packing while Brian disappeared to have one himself.

After each of them were bathed and fed the three of them curled up on the bed and watched a movie they found on TV. Jamie sat happily in the middle of them, propped up by a pillow. He managed to stay awake through most of the move (almost an hour and a half) before he dozed back off to sleep. For a while his eyes fluttered open and closed every so often as his lips parted and he started to drool. Eventually Brian picked him up and settled him into his travel cot before he and Mia climbed into bed, knowing they had to fly home reasonably early the next day.

Luckily they were all on the same flight, but Jamie wasn't sat with them (he had been sat with Letty and Dom on the flight over) so instead of swapping seats Brian and Mia decided to take this extra day alone. When they finally got back to LA they all went to the Toretto house for something to eat and a bit of relaxation, before those who didn't live there went to their own homes. They were sat around the kitchen, drinking some hot drinks and eating sandwiches that Mia quickly put together.

"So did we ruin your honeymoon?" Rome asked with a slight smirk.

"No, surprisingly you didn't," Brian laughed. "I forgot you lot were even there."

"Yeah, except when you needed a babysitter," Dom pointed out.

"Well I sure as hell wasn't gonna let Jamie stay in the room with us when I planned to be alone with Mia," Brian shrugged.

"Dude, my sister, inappropriate," Dom groaned.

"Exactly why I needed a babysitter," Brian grinned. "Killed two birds with one stone."

"We're changing the subject," Mia said quickly.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, distracting everyone. Jesse was the one to get up. They all continued to eat their sandwiches and sip their coffee, expecting it to be Rachel and/or Lacey. But when Jesse came back in they all sat up a little straighter. He looked shocked to say the least.

"Uh, Vince, someone is here to see you."

His head snapped up as Angie walked into the room. Letty and Mia locked eyes, a smile threatening to spread across their faces. Brian noticed the two girls and rolled his eyes. He gave Angie a small smile who returned it.

"V, can we talk?" she asked quietly.

He just nodded, ignoring the stares as he got up. Without looking at any of them he grabbed Angie's hand and led her out of the kitchen so they could talk in peace.

"Did she just call him V?" Letty laughed.

"Has a girl ever called him V?" Mia asked curiously.

"No girl has been around long enough to know that's his nickname, or to use it with his approval," Leon said, trying to look through and catch a glimpse of them.

"Maybe they did hit it off then," Mia breathed.

"Whoa," Leon said, snapping his attention back to the others. "When did this happen?"

"At the wedding," Brian shrugged. "They were talking."

"Has he been with her while we were away?" Mia asked.

"I don't think so," Dom said but he sounded unsure. "I mean, I wasn't with him all the time so I can't be positive."

"Was there ever a time when none of you were with him?"

"Probably," Jesse shrugged. "With Leon and I spending time with Rachel and Lacey it's not like we get to go out with him much."

"Well this is good," Mia smiled.

"Come again?" Dom asked curiously.

"It's about time he grew up a little," Mia mused.

"Is that why you two never worked out?" Leon teased.

"Shut up," she muttered.

"More coffee?" Brian ground out.

After an the hour the team curiously crept into the living room, wondering what was taking them so long but neither of them was in there. They all glanced at each other as they sat down. It was another hour after that when the two of them finally reappeared. Mia couldn't stop grinning as they both walked down the stairs. Angie gave him a small grin before offering a quick goodbye and leaving.

"Couldn't wait?" Leon laughed.

"We were just talking," Vince snapped.

"Talking?" Dom asked, clearly in disbelief just like the rest of them.

"Believe it or not, yes."

Mia grinned at him and he shrunk away, feeling a little uneasy. "You know you have to tell us now."

"Well, I was sort of planning on that anyway," he said awkwardly.

"Tell us before you scare them all," Letty laughed, indicating the boys' uneasy looks.

"We've been... Seeing each other," he said simply. "Since the wedding. Nothing too serious, I mean we wanted to wait to tell everyone just in case it didn't work, I mean it hasn't been that long, but mostly it was because of the wedding and that."

"And she came here and said what?" Dom asked.

"She wants to meet up later, or tomorrow, depends how I feel after that flight," he mumbled. "And she was wondering if we could just tell everyone, saves us having to sneak around."

"OK," Leon said, pulling everyone's attention to him. "Let me get this straight... Vince, our Vince, has a _girlfriend_?"

"Shut up, man," he grumbled. "Plus, just because you guys know doesn't make it official. We met not too long ago, we're taking our time before we actually decide if we want to be a proper couple."

"What about this no getting tied down shit?" Leon asked curiously.

"It's not like I'm getting married, or having kids or moving in with her," he muttered.

"Well, this is you," Dom pointed out. "Just being her boyfriend is a big commitment for you."

"I've had girlfriends," he sighed, glancing sideways at Mia. "And like I said, we haven't officially decided if we are boyfriend and girlfriend, we're taking our time."

"Yeah, leave him alone," Mia tutted.

Everyone continued to discuss the news. Vince got up, thankfully not pulling too much attention his way, and darted for the door. Mia got up too, she picked Jamie up and mumbled something about going for a walk with him. She was out of the door in a matter of minutes and making her way down the road towards Vince.

"V."

He stopped. ""You're the last person I expected to see."

"How come?" she frowned.

"I didn't mean anything by it," he assured.

"Well I wanted to come," she shrugged. "I wanted to get out anyway."

"OK." He continued to walk. "What's been bugging you?"

"I'll only tell you if you promise it never goes beyond us."

"Sure, Mi," he nodded. "I promise."

"Bri has been worried that he won't be a good Dad," she mumbled. "His Dad was never there and he's scared he'll be the same. I know he won't but I can see that it still troubles him."

"Maybe there's more to it?" Vince suggested.

"That's what I thought," she agreed. "But I can see how hard it is for him to talk about his past and well I don't really want to force him into talking about."

"Just let him know it's safe to," Vince shrugged. "Look, I think our lives our finally taking the good streak we deserve, and no offence but I think O'Conner has screwed up enough times to be allowed a break. Let him know that it's safe to talk, or maybe just show him that he's a good Dad. It sounded like you three had fun at the beach before we came home, maybe if more of that happened he'd see how much he loves being a Dad and that he'd never leave."

"Nice idea," she mused. "And you do realise that I'm an O'Conner now too, right?"

"On a piece of paper," he agreed. "But to me you'll always be a Toretto."

"We're OK aren't we?" Mia asked suddenly.

"I don't think we're like we used to be," he sighed. "But yeah, I think we're OK."

Mia gave a slight nod as she shifted Jamie a little. "So you don't want one?"

"Not anytime soon." Surprisingly he didn't seem to put off by the idea, it seemed more like he felt like he wasn't ready just yet.

"I am happy for you," she smiled. "And it is about time."

"Yeah, well, she's different," he shrugged.

"I'd love to hear all about her," Mia hinted, nudging him slightly.

"Maybe another time, we should go back before you two get cold.

Without a word he quietly took Jamie from her, shocking her in the process. He adjusted Jamie on one side and placed his arm around Mia's shoulder. She smiled a little, especially when Jamie started to tug lightly on Vince's beard. In all honesty she missed being like this with Vince. They had grown apart a little over the years, ever since their whole "are they a couple? Are they not?" situation. But before that she always thought of him as her best friend, she didn't know if he ever felt the same, but she knew she could rely on him and that he cared. Maybe now things would go back to how they were before.

* * *

_R&R_


	23. Chapter 23

Considering everyone knew that they were seeing each other Vince didn't bring Angie round. None of them realised that she lived in LA seen as she didn't when Brian knew her. Either way her being so close didn't make a difference, Vince would always go to hers, sometimes for a few nights at a time without a word. Jesse practically lived with Rachel although he still had his room in the Toretto house they hadn't made the move official. As for Leon and Lacey they were still together and were slowly making sure the house felt more like their own.

"Mia," Letty said happily as Mia let her and Dom in. "We need to talk."

"About?" Mia asked curiously.

"Not here."

Mia took her hand and led them both outside while Brian got Dom a drink. When the girls were outside the two of them sat at the table they had out there. Mia looked impatiently at Letty who just kept on smiling.

"Are you going to tell me or what?"

"What's your brother like when it comes to relationships?"

"Letty for the last time if you're having problems, just talk to so-" But then she remembered Letty's growing smile. "What's going on?"

"Answer the question."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Never really settled down. I mean with you, you two were already living together so he didn't have to take that step. I don't know, apart from Vince, he's years behind normal people when it comes to serious relationships."

"Well I guess I was imagining things when he said he wanted to get married."

Mia's eyes grew wide. "He did wh- Did he get you a ring?"

"Well, it's not official yet," she sighed. "We don't want to rush them but we're waiting until Jesse and Vince move out for good, that way we have the place to ourselves."

"When did this happen?"

"Your honeymoon," she said awkwardly. "That's another reason. We didn't want to take the light off of you guys."

"Well you should have!" Mia snapped. "I could have been planning this wedding days ago."

"Geez Mia he needs to get a ring and do the whole down on one knee thing first," Letty laughed.

"And you don't doubt that he will?"

"Not for a moment," Letty breathed happily. "I was so afraid we were going to be doing the same old thing for the rest of our lives, and now we're finally moving forward. Our own place hopefully and married."

"Is that what all the arguing has been about?"

"I never knew how to bring the topic up," she admitted.

"Normal people just open their mouths and talk," Mia teased.

"Shut it."

"Do we get to plan for kids too?" she asked excitedly.

"Whoa, I wanted the next step that's it, you're way ahead of me."

"Don't look so afraid," Mia laughed. "You do good with Jamie."

"Yeah, for the few hours, maybe the odd night that he's with us."

"I guess we'll see what happens."

"No kids for a long time," Letty warned as they headed back inside. "So don't get your hopes up."

"Oh, I'm getting my hopes up," Mia said sternly. "Plus, Jamie needs someone his age to play with."

"No, no, no," Letty said stubbornly. "He'll be at least five before I even start to think about kids."

* * *

When they got back inside Mia found out she had to keep the whole thing a secret for a little while. Mostly because they didn't want Jesse and Vince to feel that they had to move out as soon as possible. However, Mia managed to convince them to tell Brian, she didn't feel right about lying to him.

Once the news had been revealed Mia ignored their protests as she got some drinks so they could celebrate. She felt bad that they were having to keep it secret for now, so she wanted to celebrate with them a little before they celebrated big time. Which there was no argument for. Mia was going to throw them a big engagement party, then a big wedding and then a big wedding reception. It was the least she could do for them and it would be odd if she turned down an opportunity to plan a party.

Letty and Dom were both reluctant at the idea, sure they weren't ones to pass up a party or two but they weren't really hoping for anything big. They were going to a have few drinks with the team to announce and celebrate the engagement. The wedding would be a small service and well, they weren't that fussed about a reception afterwards. And in terms of their honeymoon they knew they were going to Mexico. Dom had told Letty a while back that he could see them on a beach in Mexico and he was finally going to fulfil that promise to take her.

In the end though they knew they had no room for argument. And they wondered what other suggestions Mia would come up with. Her favourite: them having kids, scared the life out of Dom just like it did Letty. They loved kids, but to look after one full time? No way.

"OK, fine, I'll drop the whole kids thing," Mia mumbled. "Let's talk about that house of yours."

"It's still technically yours too, if I die it goes to you, that was Dad's rules," Dom pointed out.

"Change it so it goes to Let," Mia shrugged.

"I can't," Dom shook his head. "Only the last person in line can do that, which is you."

"Fine, I'll sign it over to her if I ever get the house," Mia said. "But that's not what I wanna talk about."

"Then what?" Dom asked, afraid to hear the outcome.

"You need to tell Jesse and Vince to move out," she said sternly. "I refuse to sit on this whole for too long. I will tell them all, ring or no ring, them living there or not, nothing will stop me."

"Did I ever tell you I hated your sister?" Letty asked

"Might have mentioned it," Dom chuckled.

"You love me really," Mia said, sticking her tongue out slightly. "I'm just saying this whole thing would be a lot easier if you asked them to move out or if you told them that you guys were planning on getting married then they could move out."

"They're practically already moved out," Letty argued.

"I'm still going to tell them if you take too long," Mia promised.

* * *

After that Letty and Dom had many different discussions about when they wanted to tell everyone. Mia had been somewhat right, it would be a lot easier if they jsut told everyone, but part of them were just afraid. This was a big step for both of them. Sure Letty was always slightly ahead of Dom in terms of their relationship but it still scared her just as much as it scared him. In the end they wanted to leave it a little while until Dom could find the perfect ring before they thought to tell anyone.

Luckily for them Jesse had already brought up the courage to suggest to Rachel that they move in together. She had been so happy that she instantly cleared some space for him so he could move his stuff over as soon as possible. As for Vince, he and Angie were going strong and officially made the step to announce that they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. However, they were still stubborn that they were part of a serious relationship. Vince always said it wasn't like he was moving in with her, but he spent almost all of his time round her place.

"I got you something, V," Leon announced as they all sat down in the living room.

Rome started to laugh and Mia suddenly regreted coming round to visit.

"What?" Vince asked, a little unease.

Leon threw him a package. Vince caught it and ripped it open. He frowned as two towels fell out. When he picked them up he let out a low growl. Written on one of them was "Mr" and on the other had "Mrs." Vince threw them and the packaging aside so he could get at Leon. He crashed into him, knocking them both to the floor. Leon kept on laughing as he tried to keep Vince at arms length. All of the guys were laughing along too while Mia and Letty tried not to.

"Come on, man," Leon chuckled. "I thought you could put it in your new place."

"I'm not living with her," Vince growled.

"Could have fooled us," Rome chuckled. "You're never here."

"It's true," Letty grinned. "It's been nicing have the place to ourselves."

"Might as well just tell her you want to stay there permentally," Leon said, with a serious tone this time. "Or find a new place together."

"No, it's way too soon," Vince ground out.

"I'd agree with you," Leon nodded. "But the way you two are going on, you-"

"Shut it," Vince snapped. "We're not moving in together. Sure I'm always there but I like to have the option of being able to get away."

"Well why don't you get a place of your own?" Mia piped up. Everyone turned to look at her, a little shocked at her suggestion. "What? Get somewhere small that way she can stay over with you sometimes, saves going to hers all the time, but then at the same time you also have that place to be on your own like you want."

"It's not a bad idea," Jesse admitted.

"And we'd all have our own places to live," Lacey smiled as she pecked Leon lightly on the lips.

Vine shrunk into his seat, mulling the idea over in his mind. It didn't sound like a terrible idea, in fact it sounded pretty decent. His own place meant he didn't have to worry about anyone else all of the time, and if it was small enough then hopefully Angie wouldn't look for an invitation to move in. He received an encouraging grin from Mia before she curled further into Brian.

* * *

_R&R_


	24. Chapter 24

No more serious drama had been promised, everyone was moving on and things were looking up. But naturally it didn't stay that way. For a small while things changed back to the dark days for a couple of nights or so. Everyone was living with their significant others or in Rome's case, on their own. The team were finally growing up but all of a sudden things were flipped.

"Remind me again why you were so worried?" Mia asked Brian.

She was stood on the porch looking over at him. He was sat on one of the chairs, Jamie on his lap, playing peek-a-boo with him.

"Shh," Brian said, still adopting the baby voice he had been using. "It's normal to be a little worried."

"You're right," she agreed. "But you're an amazing Dad so you have nothing to worry about."

"You really think that?"

"I would have taken Jamie and left if I didn't think you were," she said seriously.

"I guess I better not fuck up," he laughed.

"Urgh, don't," she complained. "I'm adamant his first word will be a swear word."

"Then he really will be a Toretto," he joked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you weren't holding him I would deck you right now."

"Bit violent," he winked.

She rolled her eyes and took a seat next to him. Once again they found themselves at the Toretto's. Brian sometimes wondered why they had even moved out, they spent more time here than at their own home, but it was Sunday which meant family barbecue so they really had no choice in the matter.

Brian leaned over and settled Jamie in the little swing they'd got him. He put the timer on and Jamie rocked backwards and forwards, pulled by the machine. When he leaned back up Mia caught him in a kiss. His eyes grew wide in shock but then a smile spread across his face and he kissed her back.

"What was that for?" he asked breathlessly.

"I just really love you," she smiled.

"Oh, well feel free to tell me any time you like."

She responded by kissing him again. He chuckled slightly against her lips before he pulled away and gave a small smile. He kissed her lips again quickly before looking at her properly.

"I love you too."

"Aw, how sweet."

Mia's entire body tensed up and anger grew in Brian. They both knew that voice. It was unmistakable no matter how long ago they had heard it. It belonged to a crotch rocket owning, dick of a personality, pretty boy who had ruined their lives.

As they both turned they were faced with Johnny Tran who was stood in front of them on the pathway leading up to the porch. Brian and Mia both stood and walked down the few steps. Suddenly Mia screamed and lunged for him but Brian caught her around the middle.

"You bastard!" she screamed, trying her hardest to get at him.

"What the fuck is going on?" Vince yelled as he came round the side of the house.

The others came with him and they all froze at the sight of Johnny stood before them. He had changed drastically since they had seen him. He had scars on his head and on the parts of his body they could see. His left eye was almost completely closed and he looked a lot paler. Apparently he didn't crash that bike hard enough.

"How the hell are you out?" Dom asked angrily.

"Toretto you should really keep in touch with these things," he chuckled. "Your boy O'Conner got me put down for the heists but seen as he made me crash my bike too I was in hospital and rehab for most of it, long enough for me to find a way to get off."

"Does that mean they're coming for us?" Jesse asked quietly.

"They still think I did it. Overcrowding and my condition got me out, they didn't think I was a threat to society." Johnny shrugged, clearly amused. "How you doing, Einstein?"

"Great no thanks to you," Leon growled.

"He's alive, ain't he?" Johnny chuckled. "You're just lucky the cops came to get me before I got to him."

"Why are you here?" Dom demanded, obviously trying to get his anger in check.

"I hear you don't race anymore," Johnny informed. "Well that's about to change. You'll be at the races tomorrow or else."

"Is that a threat?" The anger was slowly rising back up in him.

"Isn't that how this little game works?" Johnny smirked. "Be there Toretto, I'll make you regret it if you're not."

Letty went to lunge forward but Leon grabbed her before she could. Mia was struggling to get at him, and something snapped in Dom. Vince and Rome managed to grab him before he could get too far.

"Hell, bring the whole family," Johnny laughed as he walked over to his car.

Once he was in and driving away Letty, Dom and Mia were all let go of. Brian kissed Mia's cheek softly before moving to check on Jamie who had started to cry. The team grouped on and around the porch to discuss what had happened.

"We're going, aren't we?" Vince asked Dom.

He let out a low sigh and nodded. "Yeah."

"No, Dom," Mia shook her head. "You promised no more races!"

"It's just one more race, Mi," he assured. "It's that or the cops, and I am not getting involved with any more cops."

"It will never be just one more race," she cried. "I get that part of your motive is to keep us safe but this will never end! You know Johnny he won't ever give up until he wins."

"Yeah, which wouldn't have happened if you didn't screw his sister," Letty muttered.

Dom glanced at her and chose to ignore the comment. "And if he comes here and hurts any of us? What if it's Jamie he goes after?"

"He's not that sick," Mia breathed.

"Can we be sure?" Dom asked seriously.

"He's right," Brian sighed. "I hate to say it but if this keeps us all safe, including Jamie then we should go to the races."

"Well, I can't go," Mia piped up. "I have to stay with Jamie."

"Jess you stay home too," Dom ordered.

"No man, I'm coming with you," Jesse answered back.

"Hell no," Leon interrupted. "Plus we can't leave Mia and Jamie alone."

"Then one of you stay!" Jesse argued. "Any one of you will be able to keep them safe."

"No, it's you," Dom said firmly, showing no room for arguments.

* * *

The next night the boys got ready to leave. Mia, Jesse and Jamie were all going to stay at Mia and Brian's, as far as they knew Johnny didn't know about it right now so it was safer than the Toretto's. Rachel, Lacey and Angie all came over to so they could try and keep things calm until the boys got back.

Just as they were about to go through the door Mia tried once again to keep Brian from going. She practically begged him to stay with her and Jamie. She knew the races like the back of her hand and they were usually safe but Johnny had a motive. Her whole family were walking into something that could prove dangerous. They had narrowly escaped a dangerous move on the last heist when Brian stopped them. She thought this crap was over.

"Shit man, is this really the best idea?" Brian asked as they walked to their cars.

"Hey, don't back out on this now," Dom warned. "It's just a race like old times."

"Only someone there wants us dead," Brian mumbled.

"Hey, just keep good control of your car, buster," Dom smirked as he got into his car.

Brian rolled his eyes at the nickname. Dom knew just how to push his buttons. Now that he had been called a buster again he was determined to prove himself to Dom at this race if the opportunity arose. No way was he letting him win again.

When they got to the races the crowd were more than surprised to see the team show up. For a moment they were all thrown into silence before they erupted into cheers. The boys pushed away the skanks that swarmed them, not even playing along for a second.

"Well well well, look who it is," Hector chuckled. "Mia know you're here?"

"Yeah, she weren't too happy," Dom sighed. "But this is purely business."

"Business?" Hector asked, and Dom indicated Johnny. "Ah, I see. Yeah, I was surprised to see him."

"Yeah, you're not the only one," Leon spat.

"He said he wants in whatever race you're in," Hector informed. "I didn't think you'd be comin' around but I humored him and assumed you'd want to go first to get it out of the way?"

"No question about it," Dom nodded. "Same as last time?"

"The only thing that's changed is we don't have our king no more," Hector shrugged.

Dom nodded, handing him the ten thousand. He counted it as quickly as possible before fishing it into his pocket. He marked Dom's name down and signaled for the crowd to part so Dom could drive his car up to the starting line.

The team moved to the finish line, ready to see who came first. Dom pulled up to the starting line as they went, finding himself next to Johnny. He threw Dom a smirk before focusing on the road. Dom barely noticed the other two drivers. One was a girl who looked like she didn't know shit about cars and a boy who looked too cocky for his own good.

The typical racer chaser came to stand between Johnny's car and the girl's but only back slightly so everyone could see her. She raised her hands in the air, looked at all four drivers then dropped.

Dom pulled away before anyone but once his speed picked up to a reasonable number he held it. Johnny caught up with him with ease and the smug look on his face told Dom that he thought he would win.

They kept side by side even when approaching the half way mark, both of them having shifted gears at least twice. The other two racers were far behind and were barely taken into consideration by either Dom or Johnny. Nothing else mattered but each other and who won.

Dom took a glance over at Johnny to see him looking relaxed behind the wheel, too relaxed. There was a high chance he was going to fuck up and fuck up big time. No matter how easily you think you've got it in a race you don't ease up, not ever. In most races Dom knew he had the best chance of winning but he never eased off, he gave it a hundred percent. Johnny had messed up.

Dom shifted gears and pushed the pedal hard. He pushed in front of Johnny, they were barely passed the midpoint but he knew it would rattle Johnny up and it did. The idiot pushed it NOS button and came flying forward. Dom took a chance and waited until Johnny was halfway between the midpoint and the end before he pushed his own buttons. He shot forward and luckily for him Johnny's NOS ran out. He floored it, trying to keep his grip on the steering wheel as his car got faster and faster. In a matter of seconds he bypassed Johnny and went straight over the finish line. Just like old times.

When he came out of the car the crowd cheered just like they used to. For a split second Dom (and the rest of the team) forgot why they were supposed to be there. But as soon as Johnny stalked over from his car it all hit them again like a ton of bricks.

"This ain't over Toretto," Johnny warned.

"You wanted us to come to the races," Dom shrugged. "We came, we won, end of."

"You ruined my life Toretto," Johnny growled. "This isn't over 'til I say it is."

"Looks like Mia was right," Letty muttered. "This dick just isn't gonna give."

"Well we won, fair and square, he wanted us here and we did as he asked and now we're going home," Dom shrugged.

"Toretto," Johnny practically growled.

Vince, Rome and Leon all moved forward, ready to fight if need be. Brian stayed back, keeping an eye on Letty in case he had to grab her.

"Come near my family again, Tran," Dom warned. "And I'll make you wish you were dead."

The team gave one last final look before they turned and stalked away. "Don't walk away from me Toretto."

"Don't test me," Dom yelled, not bothering to stop or look back. It was time for them to go home and hope for the best. Dom wasn't stupid, no way was Johnny going to back down that easily. It wasn't his style, hell, it wasn't Dom's style.

* * *

A/N: _hey! So, yeah, I wasn't sure if I was going to bring him back but then I changed things up to suit my story and figured if Johnny ever got out he would be pissed. Now so it makes a little sense, in my head (for this story and the prequel) Johnny and Lance planned on going to the Toretto house to get Jesse. However before they could Brian had stopped Dom and the others from going on the heist and managed to convince the cops that Johnny and his team were behind the heists. Just as Johnny and Lance were about to leave for the Toretto house the cops showed up (with Brian). The chase with Johnny and Brian happened just like it did in the film but the crash Johnny had on his bike seriously injured him but didn't kill him. As for Dom going after Lance, I figured that wouldn't happen in terms of my story because Jesse never got shot, however if you want to think that he did then that's fine too _

_If you have any questions about my version of events when it comes to Tran then don't be scared to ask! Also, thank you ever so much for the reviews! After seeing the Fast Six trailer my love for the franchise has shot right up to full gear again so I've finally got inspiration back! There'll only be a couple of chapters with the Johnny drama because I don't want to drag it out. So that means a few more chapters until the end! Thank you for staying with me this far, it means an awful lot to me._

_R&R_


	25. Chapter 25

Mia paced backwards and forwards. She had done so early when they left before she settled for a short while. If things hadn't changed much since the last time they went to the races, that meant that there should be about three races then the after party. If things got off to a good start with no interruptions then they should be on the third race. Would Dom really wait 'til then to race? Surely he would take the first race with Johnny? But if that was the case then they'd be home by now, so where the hell were they? She was going out of her mind with worry. The others sat awkwardly around the living room while Jamie rocked backwards and forwards in his little swing, completely silent but visibly not upset.

"Mia, why don't you sit down?" Jesse suggested.

"No," she snapped. "They should be here by now!"

"They could have taken the third race," Jesse suggested. "Or maybe the cops showed up and they're hanging low."

"You think that makes me feel any better?"

Jesse shook his head and Rachel spoke in his place. "I only really know about the races from what Jesse told me... But from what I've heard near enough every person at that race is on Dom's side, they respect him, so if anything goes down he'll have hundreds of people to back him."

"She's right," Lacey agreed. "They're not alone out there, that should count for something."

"And do you really expect our boys and Letty to lose at anything?" Angie grinned.

Admittedly the comments made her feel a little better. She visibly relaxed and took a seat on the couch with Rachel and Jesse. She would give them an hour, maybe two (if she could handle it) to come home, if they didn't then she was going to go after them. Nothing int this world was going to stop her.

* * *

An hour ticked by painfully slow and Mia forced herself to make it through another hour, or at least half an hour. Jamie had drifted off to sleep but soon woke up again. She took the chance to give him a feed and then change him so that she could distract herself. Even after all that she was still feeling on edge. Something just wasn't right. They wouldn't stay any longer than need be, right?

"That's it, I'm going to go get them," she finally snapped after another ten minutes of pacing.

"No, you have to stay here," Jesse urged.

"The hell I do, my husband and brother are out there," she growled. "And not to mention four of my best friends, I will not sit here and wait for bad news! They should be here by now, it's not like they're going to go to the after party."

"Maybe they will," Jesse shrugged. "Maybe they'll go back to Hector's place and discuss things with Johnny."

"Is he really gonna sit and talk?"

When Jesse had no comment for her she headed towards the front door, Jamie still in her arms. She didn't have any doubt that the others would follow her and she only felt calm with Jamie with her. She snatched Jesse's keys from the side before he could object. She fiddled them into the hand that was holding Jamie and picked up the spare car seat with her free one.

When she got to the car she strapped the car seat in the back, trying to do so as quickly as possible. The others came tumbling out of the house, all screaming for her to stop and come back inside, she ignored them.

"Mia you can't do this!" Jesse yelled as he got closer.

"I can and I will," she mumbled as she securely fastened Jamie into the car.

"At least leave Jamie here," Lacey suggested.

She turned from the car and straightened up. "Look I'm going to Hector's house, if no one is there I promise I'll come straight back home, OK? I'm taking Jamie so I won't do anything stupid."

"Then let me come with you," Jesse offered. "That way one of us can sit in the car while the other person goes and talks to Hector."

She thought about it and gave a slight nod, but just as she was about to shut Jamie's door the sound of the team's engines could be heard. They all looked up just as the team came flying down the street. Brian was out of the car almost as soon as he stopped. As he reached Mia Vince went to Angie and Leon went to Lacey.

Mia ran from the car to meet Brian halfway, she threw her arms around him the second he was close enough. She pulled him close and squeezed, making sure that he was real. Convinced that he was she pulled away and kissed him.

"Don't you dare go off and do something like that again," she cried. "I was going out of mine."

"She's not exaggerating," Jesse groaned. "I thought I'd have to restrain her."

"A true Toretto at heart," Dom laughed.

"I'm sorry," Brian mumbled. "We didn't want to leave to early, Johnny was rattled up and we didn't want him following us without a plan."

"A plan?"

"Well not a plan," Brian amended. "We just wanted to be ready in case that happened, not come back here and feel on top of the world just for him to show up."

Suddenyl there was the sound of a car pulling up. Brian tensed and gaver her a "I told you" look. They knew he would follow them, he probably had someone check out the Toretto house when the team were at the races, of course he came up empty, no one was there. They all glanced up to see Johnny exiting it and stalking closer to them. He gave them a small confident smirk.

"I thought I told you not to test me," Dom growled.

"I like a challenge," he shrugged.

"You'd think after all this time he'd pick one he can win," Vince commented with a roll of his eyes.

Johnny's eyes settled on something behind the team for just a momement. "Oh, I think I can win this one."

He stalked forward, heading straight for Leon who was the person closest to him. His hand clenched into a fist but before he could throw the punch Leon got him first. They wrestled for a bit before Leon spun him round and threw him straight towards Vince and Rome. Both guys tackled Johnny to the floor. Vince got the first punch and Rome served for back-up whenever Johnny almost got away. On Johnny's last attempt of escape Rome pushed him towards a growling Dom and Brian.

Johnny seemed to shrink back and suddenly looked very unsure. He stalked backwards before Brian moved round to stand behind him. Both men took turns on fighting Johnny depending on which way he went. The girls moved away from the fight, engrossed in what was happened. Letty urged to move forward but the girls and Jesse kept her back. Mia moved nearer to the car again so she could keep an eye on Jamie. She felt safer leaving him in the car instead of out in the open to witness the fighting and possibly get caught in it.

Dom landed repeated punches on Johnny's chest, pushing him back towards Brian. When Johnny collided with Brian's chest he moved away, obviously startled. He swung round and managed to punch Brian in the side of the head. Brian recoiled for just a moment before he tackled him to the ground, having no hesitation in giving him a few punches then a kick when he stood up.

Johnny crawled away and managed to get onto his feet. Just as he got stable on them Dom picked him up by his collar, he offered one last punch before he threw Johnny behind him. When Johnny didn't move and just laid there, the girls moved over to their guys. Letty taking the time to check on Rome as well as Dom.

Mia jumped over Johnny's body and moved over to Brian. "Are you OK?" she asked, examining the already growing bruise on the side of his head.

He flinched away but provided her with a smile nonetheless. "Yeah, I'm fine, he punches like a girl."

She chuckled a little and gave him a quick kiss. Just as she was about to speak an odd sound caught their attention. They turned around to see that Johnny was no longer lying on the floor, but instead he was in the front seat of Jesse's car trying to start it. The wires he pressed together finally spurred the engine on and he drove forward off the driveway before any of them could reach him. The back door and the driver's side door closed with the force as the car rocketed down the street.

"No!" Mia screamed as she tried in vain to run after it.

Brian wrapped his arms around her middle and stopped her from running. "Shh he's not worth it."

"Jamie's in the backseat!" she screamed. "Jamie!"

Brian tensed, his whole world falling apart around him. "W-What?"

"I put him in his car seat," she cried. "I was going to Hector's to see if he'd seen you."

"Cars, now!" Dom screamed.

Brian eyes never left the spot where Jesse's car had disappeared and his grip stayed firm on Mia's waist. She continued to struggle against him, wanting to get away, her arms stretching out towards where the car had vanished.

* * *

_R&R_


	26. Chapter 26

Mia and Brian were both snapped back to the present with the sounds of the team jumping into their cars and starting their engines. Lacey went with Leon, Angie with Vince and Rachel and Jesse took her car. Brian and Mia both ran for Brian's car and got in, the doors were barely shut before the entire team were racing down the street.

Brian came up beside Dom, ignoring the fact that it was a two way road. If a car came down the street they'd have to move out of the fucking way. They hurtled down the road, turning the corners very dangerously. They were so close to Johnny's place when Brian pulled in front of Dom. In normal circumstances this would have made him the happiest person alive, but he had only managed it because he was intent on getting to Jamie as soon as possible.

When they arrived the team skidded to a stop and were out of their cars in seconds. Johnny was stood in plain sight with his usual lot. Mia felt the urge to be sick when she saw Jamie attached to Johnny's side. He had an arm around him, keeping him up while Jamie held onto the a finger of the other hand.

"Now, who does this belong to?" Johnny asked, indicating Jamie.

"He's ours," Brian ground out.

"Ah, yes," he nodded. "I see the little Toretto in him."

"I'll give you little," Mia snapped as she lunged forward.

This time around, and to everyone's surprise, it was Letty who caught Mia and held her back. "Come on girl, he's being smart, you can't attack him while he's holding Jamie."

"Jamie?" Johnny asked. In response Jamie giggled and patted Johnny's cheek. "He's very trusting."

"Fuck you," Mia spat.

"Now, now, that's not the right way to talk to someone," Johnny grinned. "Especially the guy who is holding your baby."

"I'm only going to give you one chance to pass him over before I forcibly take him from you," Dom growled.

"And risk hurting the child?"

"I can do both," Dom promised.

"And he's got help," Vince reminded.

"A lot of it," Rome added.

"And I have help too," Johnny countered, motioning to the boys around him. "So I think I'll hold onto the kid for a little bit."

"Yeah, he's cute," Johnny's creepy cousin Lance said as he stroked Jamie's cheek.

"Don't fucking touch him," Mia screamed, fighting against Letty.

A grin spread across Johnny's face as he shifted him slightly. "I don't remember her being this feisty before, maybe I'll take a round or two now that she's more my type."

It was Brian and Vince's turn to lunge forward at that. Rome and Leon managed to pull them back before they could get too far. Surprisingly Dom stayed still, the anger clearly growing inside of him.

"You better watch your mouth," Dom warned.

Johnny just laughed as Leon let out a groan. "Dom, help."

Vince was thrashing about and it was clear Leon was struggling to keep a hold of him. "V, stop."

"Stop?" Vince ground out. "I'll fucking kill him!"

"No you won't," Dom snapped.

"Then I'll do it," Brian growled, although he wasn't getting away from Rome as easily.

Eventually everyone calmed down a little and took a deep breath. Letty still kept an arm around Mia, too afraid to let her go in case something set her off again.

"I think we'll keep in actually," Johnny decided, clearly trying his hardest to get the team rattled up.

Mia lashed out again, and Letty as she struggled to keep Mia with her, snapped. "What the fuck do you want?"

"You guys owe me a lot," he shrugged. "So let's start with that garage of yours, and the two houses, your cars and all the money you won at that race plus a little more."

"Screw you, we're not giving you everything we own," Leon snapped.

"Isn't the child worth it?"

"Of course he is," Rome ground out. "But the kid ain't gonna have much if we give all our stuff away."

"When you're all behind bars you won't be needing it," Johnny smirked.

"Behind bars?" Jesse squeaked.

"Yeah, that's the slightly harder part of the swap," Johnny smiled. "You guys have to give yourself in, tell them it was you that did the heists, O'Conner too. I guess little Toretto can stay nice and free."

"How generous of you," Mia hissed.

Johnny winked at her once before turning serious. "It's your choice. I'll hold onto the boy until then."

As they walked away the team sized up Johnny and his men. There was Johnny, Lance and three other guys. Not much but they all looked pretty strong and were probably packing.

When their backs were turned the team lunged forward, they weren't letting Jamie out of their sights. Leon and Jesse managed to tackle the guy furthest to the left. Surprisingly Lacey and Rachel got in on him too. As Angie lunged for the next guy Lacey moved away to help her. Lance tried to make a run for it but Vince tackled him to the floor. As he fell, Letty and Rome grabbed the third guy, leaving Johnny and Jamie.

Dom, Mia and Brian all ran for him. They knew they couldn't be as violent as the others, throwing punches and kicking whenever they could. They had to be careful as long as he still had Jamie. Mia wasn't as fast as the others but the boys closed in on him quick.

Johnny had turned around to face them, now walking backwards, and he misjudged it. His back hit the wall instead of the door which he was clearly aiming for. He patted the wall frantically, seemingly looking for the door handle which never appeared.

Dom opened his mouth to warn him again about giving Jamie over when Johnny stepped forward. The three of them paused a little way away, anticipating his next move. They expected him to run off to the side and try for the door but suddenly her threw Jamie into the air _before _darting off. Dom ran for him and tackled him to the floor, his fists instantly connecting with Johnny. Mia screamed out as Jamie flew into the air and quickly fell back to earth. She darted forward in an attempt, her heart racing, she wasn't going to make it in time. She started to cry, she wasn't fast enough, he was going to hit the ground.

But suddenly Brian was there and he stood where Jamie was falling. Moving slightly to adjust his position, arms stretched upwards. And Jamie fell into his arms with a thud. Brian misplaced his feet at the force and it caused them to fall backwards onto the ground. Brian's head hit off the concrete and Jamie let out a squeal of happiness as he pushed himself to sit up on Brian's chest.

Brian's arms fell away from Jamie as the little boy moved. His mouth cracked open slightly and a small amount of blood started to pool near his head. Suddenly Jamie stopped his happy noises as he watched Brian. He angrily hit his Dad's chest and when he didn't get a response he did it again. He kept hitting and soon started to cry.

"Bri," Mia whispered as she slowly stepped closer.

The fighting had stopped, Johnny and his guys on the floor and too scared (or unable) to move. The team stepped closer to where Brian lay. Lacey was on her phone instantly, calling for an ambulance and the police.

"Brian?" Mia asked quietly as she knelt down next to him.

Vince came to the other side and quietly picked up Jamie. The little boy struggled, wanting his Dad. "Shh, baby," Vince cooed. "It's OK, shh."

"Brian?" Mia asked, but more firmly.

"Mia, the ambulance is on its way," Lacey told her.

"Brian," Mia cried. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly.

"Mi," Dom said softly as he knelt beside her.

"Please," Mia begged as she shook him again. His head rolled to the side the blood could be seen mixed in with his hair. She started to cry as she touched the wound. It didn't feel big but there was a lot of blood and he wasn't responding. She placed her hands on his cheeks, trying to get him to wake up. "Please, don't leave me."

"Mia, come on," Dom urged as he wrapped an arm around her. "They're on their way he'll be fine."

"We need you, Bri," she whispered. "You can't leave us like this."

She tugged lightly at his top, anything to make him wake up. As Dom tried to pull her away the ambulance and cop cars came soaring up the street. Leon and Jesse stepped aside with Lacey and Rachel to explain to the cops what had happened.

As the paramedics tended to Brian, Dom ripped Mia away and she started to scream, trying to get back to him. She kicked and cried out, telling Dom how much she hated him. He took it, knowing she didn't mean it, she was just scared, he understood.

Jamie continued to cry and everyone remained quiet as Mia struggled. The cops carted Johnny and his boys off in cop cars, not giving them the privilege of getting an ambulance. One of the cops remained to ensure the scene was secure. The paramedics put Brian onto the board and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. Rome rode with him, feeling guilty about it when he heard Mia's screams get louder. Her pleads to go with him.

Eventually she stopped struggling and slumped against Dom's chest. He kept his arms around her, and they all half listened as the cop told them the police would come to them, they didn't have to worry about anything. With that they got into their own cars.

Vince had Angie take his and Lacey took Dom's car. Dom climbed into the driver's side of Brian's car while Vince, Mia and Jamie sat in the back of the car. Vince kept Jamie on his lap with his arms secured around him like a makeshift seatbelt. As they drove Mia looked down at her hands lying limp on her lap, one of them was covered in blood.

Jamie struggled to get free and when he did he crawled over to Mia. He crawled into her lap and knelt there. He placed his hands on her chest to hold himself up. On instinct she wrapped her arms around him to stop him from moving but she didn't look up. He made an angry noise, somewhere between a scream and a cry. She glanced up at that. He was staring at her, eyes red from crying. He reached up to kiss her like he did when she asked for one or when he had to go somewhere without her. She leaned forward a little so he could reach. When she pulled away the tears started to fall again. Jamie snuggled into her chest in an attempt to make her feel better.

* * *

A/N: _So yeah, I was in a really upset mood when I wrote this so the ending came out a bit differenly than I expected..._  
_Also, there will be 28 chapters in this story so only two more to go. I really love you all for reading, reviewing/PMing, favouriting and following. It really means a lot to me!_

_R&R_


	27. Chapter 27

The team all sat around the relatives room, each of them tired and anxiously waiting for some news to come about Brian. They grew impatient and more worried as time went on. When they arrived Brian was taken away to be examined, each of them had been told to wait outside. Soon, however, those who had cuts and bruises were seen to and Jamie was examined. After that they were moved to the relatives room so they could wait on news. All of them came out completely fine, but Brian was still being seen to. That was an hour ago, maybe more, most of them had lost track of time.

"Mia," Dom said softly as he nudged her.

Mia tightened her arms on the sleeping Jamie so he wouldn't fall but otherwise remained silent and still. She had cried for most of the journey and then again when Brian was taken away to be examined. She had only recently stopped. Her eyes were red and her breathing a little hitched.

"Snap out of it."

She looked up at the soft growl. Vince was kneeling down in front of her, his hands on top of her knees. She narrowed her eyes at him. How could he just expect her to snap out of it? Didn't he understand what was happening?

"Fuck you, V," she ground out.

"There she is," he whispered softly. "Now you stay talking and snap out of this, he'll be just fine, he isn't allowed to die."

"Why do you care so much?" she asked quietly. "You never liked him."

"You're my girl, Mi," he said sternly, ignoring the looks that granted him. "And you chose him, God knows why, but you chose him. So yeah I'm not overly fond of the buster but you are, and you're my girl so he isn't allowed to die."

"You really think he won't?" she mumbled.

He gave her a small smile. "If it was me, and I had you two, I wouldn't let anything take me away."

"I'm sorry I swore at you."

"I've heard worse," he grinned. "Most of them from you."

"I'm not that bad," she said, managing a small smile.

"When did he eat?" Vince asked, stroking Jamie cheek with his finger softly.

"Before you guys came back from the races," she sighed. "He'll be cranky when he wakes if he can't eat."

"Where are your keys?" Angie asked.

"What?" Mia asked, slightly confused.

"We didn't lock up so I'll go back and secure the house," she shrugged. "I'll get stuff for Jamie, or if you want I can take him with me and get him settled."

"No, I want him here," Mia whispered.

"Get him some things and bring his car seat so we can put him in it," Dom croaked.

"Does anyone need anything?"

They all shook their heads. "I didn't pick up by keys, they should be on the hook near the door," Mia informed.

Angie gave a slight nod but before she could leave Vince grabbed her arm. He handed her his car keys before glancing up at her. He knew what he said to Mia might not have settled well with her. But Mia _was_ his girl. The first one to treat him like he wasn't some ape. Even before any feelings showed up, when they were just friends, she was just there and he couldn't change that. But did Angie understand?

"I get it," she smiled, reaching up to kiss him. She pulled away biting her lip.

"But?" he asked, sensing one.

"_And_," she corrected. "…I love you."

He stepped back for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Was this really the right place to be discussing this? Sure things were pretty perfect between them and he no longer brushed off the comments that she was his girlfriend and he was her boyfriend. In fact he liked the idea, knowing that she was his and nobody else's.

"You don't have to say it," she smiled. "I just figured after everything I'd tell you something good."

He kissed her and she let out a little squeal. "Never stop saying it," he mumbled against her lips.

She nodded before leaving the room quickly. Vince felt a little lighter but it all sunk away as she left. He collapsed into the seat between Mia and Jesse. He reached over and took Jamie from her, careful not to wake him. Mia sat up a little straighter and stretched.

"Why didn't you say it back?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Didn't seem like the right time to be getting into it."

"Ol' Coyote is scared," Leon commented, but the usual teasing tone wasn't there.

"Ain't scared," he countered, but the fighting tone wasn't there, even the defensive one wasn't.

"'Course he is," Rome shrugged. "Men like us ain't into all that shit, then when we do eventually find someone we can love they can't just expect us to come out and say it."

"Fine I am scared, OK?" he admitted suddenly.

"You do realise she already said it?" Letty asked. "So you don't have to worry about that."

"Tell you what," Vince compromised. "When Brian gets the all clear I'll tell, as a sort of celebration."

"I think you're starting to like my husband," Mia smirked.

"Hell no," he shook his head.

She went to open her mouth but suddenly the door pushed open. They were all on their feet in an instant (except Vince who didn't want to wake the sleeping Jamie). The doctor stepped through and closed the door. Fear washed over Mia. Why did he close the door? Why didn't he say anything? His face was neutral and he looked around at them all until they took a step back and some of them sat back down.

"Mrs O'Conner?"

She stepped forward quietly. "Yes."

"He's stable if you'd like to see him," he smiled. "He's still out for the count though."

She sighed with relief and let out a little laugh. "What's happened?"

"We managed to stop the bleeding, get him stable and stitch up the wound. However upon examination we realised something wasn't quite right, his stats dropped and when we took him for a scan it didn't look right. We took him up to neuro and they examined him. He had some pressure on his brain, we had to drill into his skull to relief the pressure and we managed to get his stats back up. He'll have a sore head for a while and he'll be here for a few weeks but he's going to be fine."

"Is it safe for him to be asleep?" Rome asked, coming to stand next to Mia.

"Well, they put him out for the procedure," he informed. "The effects should wear off soon , after that we'll wake him up in regular intervals whenever he sleeps. It'll give us a chance to check his stats and that too."

"He's asleep right now," Mia said, indicating Jamie. "But at any point will he be able to come through?"

"I don't see why not," the doctor smiled. "But I'd go and see him first if I was you, then you can decide if you think it's suitable for the boy to come and see him."

She gave a slight nod and the doctor informed her on where to go, explaining he had some paper work to finish but would be around if she had anymore questions. She thanked him. As he left she took a deep breath and stepped backwards. Relief washed over her, he was going to be OK. Suddenly confidence flooded back into her.

"OK, I don't want to crowd him," Mia decided. "So Rome and I will go and see him first. Everyone wait here, when we come back someone else can go. But Vince I need you to wait here until Angie gets back with Jamie's stuff. If he wakes, will you feed him and what not then bring him up?"

He gave her a small nod. She gave a quiet sigh before she and Rome left the room. They walked to the elevator in silence and took it upstairs to where Brian was. Surprisingly Rome took hold of her hand as they walked closer to the room. She squeezed his hand trying to reassure both him and herself.

When they reached the room and pushed the door open Mia almost collapsed. He looked horrible. Paler than she remembered, machines everywhere and huge bandage wrapped around his head. The nurse who was checking the monitors gave them a small smile before she set the clipboard on the edge of the bed and exited the room.

She moved to him the second she could. She collapsed into the chair beside his bed. He didn't look like he was in any pain but then she knew that would change when he woke up. Drilling into someone's skull was bad enough. She gripped his hand and Rome eventually came over to settle on the other side. She'd never seen him look so scared before.

* * *

"Urgh," Brian groaned, eyes blinking rapidly.

"Bri?" Mia gasped as she rushed forward.

"Can I smell food?"

She rolled her eyes. "You almost died and the first thing you can think of is food?"

"I'm hungry," he complained.

"Well, you can't eat until the doctor says so," she told him softly.

"I'll get the doctor," Jesse whispered, rushing through the door.

When Jesse came back with the doctor the team stepped back. Brian had been out of it for three days, before he woke up briefly and then was out of it again for another two days. The doctor gave them a disapproving look, he had said that he could only have two _maybe _three visitors at a time. They all just looked away, there wasn't that many of them. Angie, Lacey and Rachel weren't there, they didn't want to crowd the place and knew that they should back off for a bit until things really picked up.

"Mr O'Conner?"

"Brian," he mumbled in a form of correction.

The doctor shone the little light into his eyes, checking his pupils, before he turned to the monitors. Looking satisfied he gently removed the bandage, checked the wound and then reapplied the bandage.

"You look alright so far," he informed. "I'll get the nurse to come and change your dressing. We'll see how you go and check on you every so often. But I must warn you that you will be in some serious pain for a while, and you'll have to put up with our company for a while too."

"How long?"

"Few weeks, the length depends on how you do," he smiled. "Just don't do too much, sit back and relax."

Brian thanked the doctor and as soon as he was out of the way Mia rushed to him. She kissed him and when he went to move closer he hissed. She jumped back and a hand came up to his head.

"Maybe I should have asked what they did," Brian muttered.

"There was pressure and they had to erm… They had to drill into your skull to relieve it."

"They _drilled _into my skull?"

"I saw it on Grey's Anatomy once," Leon told them. "Looked pretty kickass to be honest."

They all raised an eyebrow at him, even Brian and he rolled his eyes. "Screw you lot, it's a good show."

"Sure it is," Vince chuckled as he shifted Jamie. He hadn't let him out his sight except for when Mia held him.

Jamie stirred suddenly and blinked a few times, his lips parted in a dazed expression. Vince stilled not wanting to jolt him. When Jamie woke up fully Vince shifted him to sit up properly. Jamie took a while to really wake up but when he did his eyes fell on Brian who was watching him. The little boy squealed and reached out for him.

Vince stood up swiftly and walked over to the bed with him. He stood next to the head of the bed, arms around Jamie's middle so he could reach forward. Brian reached out and took hold of his hand.

"Well hand him over then," Brian told him.

"No," Vince shook his head.

"Give me my son," Brian demanded.

"You were told not to do much," Vince reminded him. "Plus the nurse will be here to check you over in a minute, I'll let you hold him when you've woken up a little more and we're sure there's no issues."

Brian narrowed his eyes but nodded, relaxing slightly and knowing that Vince was right. He continued to hold Jamie's hand, talking to him quietly before he moved away when the nurse came in.

* * *

A/N: _hey there! OK, so the next chapter is the last one, there is a bit of a time jump, so a small warning.  
_  
_R&R_


	28. Chapter 28

_A few months later…_

It had taken Brian nearly two months to fully recover. Something went wrong in the first couple of weeks, a minor complication which meant he had to stay in a little longer. The time he had in there meant he wasn't straining himself and was actually getting better, so Mia was more than happy about him staying for longer. She brought Jamie in almost every day when she visited. The team came in two at a time on different days so not to crowd him.

During his recovery time Vince finally plucked up the courage to tell Angie that he loved her. After that he bought his own place and moved out, leaving Letty and Dom with the house. Almost instantly Dom went out, determined to find the right ring. He managed it no problem, a small band with two diamonds and a little sapphire stone in the middle, which Letty fell in love with as soon as she saw it. Although she wasn't sure if it was the ring or the fact that her long term boyfriend was finally kneeling down on one knee. Almost a week after Brian was home they announced the news of their engagement to loud screams from the girls and cheers from the guys.

Tran was eventually sent down again, this time for more serious charges. His boys went down with him and good riddance to them too. They all got pretty lengthy sentences with no chance of bail or early release. Everyone was still on edge though, unsure if things could really stay good but as the weeks ticked by they all eased, none of them facing any sort of issue, inside and outside of their little family.

By time they all settled and found themselves finally feeling like they could be a happy family Jamie's birthday arrived. He was walking (with a little help from people and objects around him) but he was yet to say his first word.

"I'm really worried about him," Mia sighed. "Shouldn't he have said something by now?"

"Every child is different," Angie shrugged.

"When was your first word?" she asked Brian.

"Christ, I can't remember," he chuckled. "I don't remember much from that age."

"I was eight months old," she whispered. "Why isn't he talking?"

"Shh," Brian mumbled as he kissed her cheek. "He'll talk in his own time."

"I'm just worried."

"Nothing to worry about," he assured.

"Yeah, he's gonna be just fine," Letty cooed as she picked him up and hugged him tightly. "Aren't you?"

"Kids look good on you, Let," Leon commented.

She glared at him. "Shut up."

"You don't sound that annoyed," he commented.

"You're not are you?" Mia gasped.

"No," Letty said quickly. "I told you, kids are way in the future."

"But," Dom said, sending her a grin to spur her on.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I said after the wedding we could talk about it, think about it."

Mia rushed over and sat beside her. "Don't think about it, hell go make a baby now!"

"Mia!" Dom said, a little shocked.

"Well if you have one now then they can grow up Jamie," Mia grinned. "_Please._"

"Just 'cause I'm holding Jamie doesn't mean I won't slap you," Letty warned.

"Fine, but don't wait too long," she smiled.

"Tell you what, we'll think about trying for a baby when you have another one, those two can grow up together," Dom told her.

"Hey, don't give her any ideas," Brian groaned.

This spurred on a conversation about the wedding and redecoration of the house to suit them and the the wedding. Letty, who at first was annoyed, soon relaxed and even joined in a little.

The team were all sat in Brian and Mia's back garden. They were having a small barbecue for Jamie's birthday. They had done presents already, more toys, clothes and other stuff. The boys had helped Brian to build the tree house he wanted so that he didn't have to do too much work. They even managed to get the swing and slide set that Brian wanted for Jamie as well.

When he was released Jamie stumbled around the garden. He looked drunk when he walked, falling over every so often and finding it hard to walk in a straight line. He played with his toys in the grass while the others spoke to each other.

* * *

"How many more do you want?" Brian asked as he kissed her neck softly, thinking about the conversation on kids they'd all had a couple of hours ago.

"Maybe one more," she whispered. "But if you keep doing stuff like that we'll end up with a hundred.

"A hundred sounds good," he mumbled against her skin.

She chuckled slightly and pulled away. "Yes well, I'm not making another one at your son's first birthday party."

"Spoil sport," he pouted.

"Why do you ask?" she asked curiously.

"Seeing you get all excited and happy earlier," he shrugged.

"But you want more right?"

"Admittedly not too soon... I'm still a little worried here, I never thought I'd be a dad, I guess I'm still getting used to it," he smiled. "But you're already there so I understand that you might already be thinking about more kids."

"Well you are a dad and you're perfect at it," she told him. "And you have nothing more to worry about."

"Don't I?"

"You were worried about letting him down and maybe leaving him, right?"

"In a nutshell," he nodded.

"Bri, you almost died saving his life," she whispered, trying not to cry at the thought. "No one does that and then just leaves or gives up. You care too much for that, what happened just proves that."

He gave a small nod. "He was worth it."

"Well I'd rather not lose either of you," she sighed. "But you kept him safe, so you don't have to worry."

He held his hand to her cheek and she leaned into it. He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb and she gave a small smile. He leaned in slightly and met her in a kiss. She shifted in her seat to reach him better. Brian lifted her up and moved her to sit on his lap, her smile grew in response and she deepened the kiss. They only pulled away when Dom casually coughed as he walked pass.

"He's never going to stop is he?" Brian asked.

"He still sees me as a kid," Mia smiled. "So no."

"How much do you love your brother?" he asked. "Because I mean only seeing him on holidays and birthdays is plenty of time."

"We're not cutting my brother out!" She hit him on the chest lightly.

"Fine," he chuckled, but he stopped as his eyes fell on Vince. "Why is he being so nice to me lately? I mean he still acting... Well, like Vince but not as much."

She shrugged. "I guess after what happened he knew he could really trust you. I mean he's grown to trust you recently, you may not be able to tell but he has. But I guess what you did for Jamie and how much of an impact it had on us 'caused him to realise that we're serious and you're gonna be here for good."

"Too right I am," Brian grinned. "Nice to know he's used to it."

"He's happy like the rest of us now," she shrugged. "We're all growing up."

"Shame," Brian mumbled as he went back to kissing her neck.

She lifted her head slightly and her hands rested on his shoulders. He smiled against her neck and it only grew when he noticed she was biting her bottom lip. He moved away chuckling, not wanting to take things too far out here with everyone. She glared at him before she relaxed, running her hands up and down his chest. He leaned back enjoying the feeling as he too relaxed.

They were interrupted again, but this time by Jamie. Mia turned so she was still on Brian's lap but facing away from him. She leaned down and picked Jamie up. She held him a hug and started to kiss his cheeks. He giggled and tried to pull away before settling against her properly. Brian shifted a little to sit up as best as he could. He leaned his chin on Mia's shoulder and Jamie patted his cheek.

Suddenly he pointed to the grass and started to babble. Mia and Brian looked over. It took them a moment but soon they noticed his toys, he wanted to play.

"You can go get them." She grinned at Brian.

He rolled his eyes but when she got up he went and got them. The girls were all sat together talking and the boys were near the barbecue cooking more food meaning that the seating area where Mia was was empty. She sat on the chair and placed Jamie down on the grass. When Brian came back he sat down on the grass in front of Jamie, leaving a little space between them.

He laid out the toys. There were building blocks, action figures, a little plastic fishing pole with plastic fish to hook and a collection of toy cars. Brian put them into different piles, Jamie watched him, looking confused but a little amused. Once he was done Brian crossed his legs and got more comfortable.

"Now, what do you want to play with?"

Jamie pointed at the small collection of cars. Typical. Brian moved the other toys out of the way and spread the cars out a little more so all of them could be seen. There were red ones, blue ones, yellow ones, pink ones, orange ones and black ones. Most were cars with similar looks to the team's cars, a couple were police cars and the rest were other specific cars (e.g. military cars).

"Which one do you want?" Brian asked, indicating the little cars.

Jamie seemed to examine them before a smile spread across his face. His hand snatched one of the red ones. He let out a loud giggle as he fell back onto his bum and held the little toy up. "Car!" he screamed happily.

"Oh!" Mia said with surprise.

"Yeah," Brian nodded, pulling Jamie to him. "That's right. Car."

The others all came over. The boys were all grinning and wore a slight smirk on their faces, Letty rolled her eyes, knowing exactly why. Mia looked up at them, questioning them with a look, she wasn't entirely sure why they looked so smug or that happy. Sure she was pretty ecstatic that Jamie had finally spoken, but why were they?

"Guys?" she asked uneasily.

The girls moved to sit with Mia, knowing what was going to happen.

"His first word was car," Vince explained.

"Like a true Toretto," Dom approved.

"But that means the boy has got his priorities right," Jesse said happily.

"Man, I can't wait til he's old enough to start working on cars," Leon smiled. "And to drive one of his own as well."

"I take dibs on taking him out first when he's old enough," Rome said suddenly.

"I'm his Dad, I should take him," Brian argued.

"I'm his uncle and I'm better with cars," Dom countered.

"I'm just as good as you," Vince argued. "I could use that argument."

"I'm not as crazy as you guys," Jesse pointed out. "I should take him."

"Nobody knows safety better than me," Leon smirked. "All those times keeping your asses safe at the races."

"Oh, no," Mia groaned as she sunk into her chair. Jamie looked up at her from Brian's lap, a lop sided grin on his face. He was fiddling with the car in his hands. He held it up to her, as if giving it to her. She shook her head slightly and he pulled it back to him, playing with it. As the boys argued she realised that although Jamie would inevitably race and get into cars he would stop doing it the second she asked him not to, not that she ever would. Only a year old and he was already Mummy's little boy. She smiled, feeling proud of the fact and she closed her eyes slowly, enjoying the sound of the boys arguing over who got to take Jamie for his first driving lesson. _Boys_, she thought happily.

* * *

**The End.**

* * *

A/N: _Well, that didn't end anything like I thought it would! But I was pretty happy with how it did :) I want to thank everyone involved in this story in whatever way so much and to let you know that I really love you guys for it. It's helped so much and just aw, you've all been great!_  
_  
R&R_


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